When it comes to origami, what comes to mind?
Whether it's a paper boat, a paper airplane, a frog, a thousand paper cranes, etc
Or the small toys of childhood, "East, West, North and South".
Now that you are given a blank piece of paper, will you be able to fold out what comes to mind?
There was an artist who could fold everything he saw out of paper, and he quit his job as a university teacher in order to concentrate on origami.
This origami artist calledLiu Tong, known as the first person in Chinese origami.
YesChina's only origami national gift designer, was hiredChina Special Designer of the World Expo.
His origami works not only broke world records, but were also collected by the Capital Museum.
Origami artist Liu Tong.
No cutting, no cutting, no fighting
He conquered the world with a piece of paper
If I don't say it, I don't see it at all."
I can't believe it, is there anything he can't fold out of paper? ”
Curious, shocked, and impressed, this is the trilogy of changes in most people's hearts when they first see Liu Tong's origami works.
From the animals and plants in the real world to the virtual characters in the game world, light and shadow effects, everything can be restored in his origami world.
Some of Liu Tong's works.
In 2014, the origami work "Blue and White Vase" designed and produced by Liu Tong was given as a national gift for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Gabon.
When designing this work, because Liu Tong ignored a trigonometric problem, there was always a 2 mm error at the bottom of the bottle.
In order to find out what the problem was, Liu Tong tried again and again, and after more than 100 failures and more than 1,000 sheets of paper, he finally completed the work.
Back in 2017, Liu Tong was completing an origami challenge in the China Resources Mixc in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.
It's just that this time the origami is different from the past.
The paper used for origami is eco-friendly renewable kraft paper with an area of 196 square meters, and the floor of ** has been turned into a table for origami.
Liu Tong paced back and forth on the huge table, constantly bending over to stand up, busy in an orderly manner.
Three hours later, a 78 meters, 4 meters tall giant origami white rhinoceros.
There is a **recorded number of steps he took when he origami:"Fold in half and walk nearly 60 meters at a time and do 4 squats. The whole work was folded, and the person was so tired that he couldn't straighten his waist
And this super-large paper rhinoceros also broke the Guinness World Record for "the world's largest origami rhinoceros" in one fell swoop.
Liu Tong said that he did not want to show off his skills, but he was concerned that at that time, due to serious hunting, there was only the last male white rhinoceros left in the world, and the entire race was on the verge of extinction.
This made him very uncomfortable, and he wanted to arouse people's awareness of animal protection through his works.
Origami work "Mother's Love".
The origami work "Mother's Love" was created by Liu Tong based on the story of the pangolin's mother protecting the baby pangolin.
In the eyes of others, his origami works are more about showing off his skills, but in Liu Tong's eyes, each work is an expression of his true inner emotions.
After becoming famous, Liu Tong always had a wish, that is, to carry forward the Chinese art of origami and let the world see this ancient skill.
To this end, he spent 10 months of time and energy to complete the masterpiece "Dragon Soul".
Origami work "Dragon's Soul".
Dragon's Soul has a total of 1,444 dragon scales all over its body, and the handling of dragon whiskers and claws is particularly detailed.
The whole consists of a sheet of 52m 52 meters of square Swiss washed kraft paper folded and unfolded about 30 square meters.
In origami, "checking" is a process that helps determine how to fold paper by making lattices or marks on the paper.
And to make this dragon needs to play more than 9,000 squares, you can imagine how difficult it is.
After the creation of "Soul of the Dragon" was completed, it was invited to Japan to exhibit, and once it was unveiled, it caused countless people to marvel.
The "one-horned fairy" in the hands of the Japanese origami master Kazuo Kobayashi pales in comparison to the "Chinese Golden Dragon".
Through his own efforts and talents, Liu Tong has successfully proved the strength and value of Chinese origami, and also allowed more people to re-understand and recognize the art of Chinese origami.
A fold and a mark,
Isn't it a dream and perseverance
Before coming into contact with origami, Liu Tong was an out-and-out science and engineering man, and his fate with origami began with a paper rose.
In 2006, Liu Tong was still studying in Germany. Once on the bus, he saw a German uncle take out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, fold it into a rose, and give it to the lady next to him.
This scene instantly hit Liu Tong, and also planted a seed of origami in his heart.
After returning to his residence, Liu Tong immediately searched for an origami tutorial on paper roses on the Internet. Throughout the night, he learned little by little according to the ** that was all German, and successfully folded the first paper rose in his life.
This success completely inspired his love for origami. Since then, whenever he has time, he has studied origami.
At first, he folded simple paper cranes and owls, and soon folded a room.
In fact, I have always believed in the saying that what everyone does outside of 8 hours a day determines your lifeLiu Tong said.
As long as he doesn't work, Liu Tong spends the rest of his time thinking about origami. The most important feature of modern origami, which he is proficient in, is that he incorporates mathematical elements into origami.
A piece of paper is carefully calculated, the creases are drawn one by one, and finally the final product is folded according to the creases.
The origami work "Flying Lion" and its crease drawing.
Before putting down the pen, each line on the paper needs to be constantly deduced and calculated by Liu Tong, and only the accurate results can ensure the final presentation of the work.
The knowledge of mechanical manufacturing studied in Germany left Liu Tong with enough space to think.
Designing origami is really hard, it's a process from scratch that requires mathematics and logic, and if you make a mistake in the first step, you'll lose all your efforts
After returning to China, Liu Tong became a university teacher, but it didn't take long for him to quit his job and concentrate on origami at home.
At that time, almost everyone could not understand Liu Tong's move. After all, if you don't want a stable job and income, you will turn to full-time origami, and most people really don't dare to choose this.
Later facts proved that his choice was not wrong, and relying on his origami skills, he has become a world-renowned national treasure origami master.
At the 2015 World Peace Festival, Liu Tong's work "Ding Ceremony" was presented to neighboring Japan as a national gift.
This work not only showcases Liu Tong's superb origami skills, but also conveys the importance of peace and etiquette in traditional Chinese culture.
In 2016, another of his works, "He", became a national gift to the Maldives**.
The work uses the word "harmony" as a creative point, implying that China is willing to work with other countries to jointly maintain world peace and stability.
After becoming popular, Liu Tong was invited to cooperate with many brands, and even LV, Hermes, etc. also invited him to use origami design to create a sense of fashion.
In 2019, Liu Tong received an invitation from Eslite Bookstore to ask Liu Tongtong to design a "Little Prince" theme exhibition.
Prior to this, no one had ever tried to hold such a large-scale exhibition in the form of origami.
When the final exhibition was set up, everyone, including the grandchildren of the author of "The Little Prince", was moved
This is the world I imagined the little prince to have".
The Little Fox in The Little Prince (above).
The rose in The Little Prince (middle).
Watch the sunset with the little prince (below).
It is said that in the process of creation, in order to restore the fairy tale feeling in the book, Liu Tong bought various different versions of "The Little Prince" on the market for reading.
The translation is different, the angle is different, and the feeling will be different
The paper has no life, but it is endowed with emotion by him. When creating, Liu Tong integrates his emotions and thoughts into each origami work.
Whether it's joy, sadness, calm, or excitement, he hopes to convey them to the audience through origami works, so that the audience can feel the emotional world inside him.
Regarding origami, others see "pediatrics" and "not doing business", but Liu Tong sees a future full of infinite possibilities.
When you have a dream, you will have a good start, and when you have perseverance, then you will have a very good resultLiu Tong said.