First Origami Group Eindhoven Origami Weekend Summary

On April 11-13, 2025, I had the pleasure of taking part in the first Origami Group Eindhoven Origami Weekend, as the special guest.

We met at a very nice conference center outside the city, surrounded by a forest and green fields. We were the only guests at the facility, giving us full freedom to use the space, both indoors and outdoors. The main hall was the place of the model exhibition, and with plenty of room, I was able to show both quite a few of my own models and some models I folded that were designed by, or inspired by Shuzo Fujimoto (for example, tessellations based on his star designs, and fractalized versions of his stars). Some displays were quite inventive, for example featuring models floating on water (Maria Seidel) or composed together with LED-powered candles (José Dillisse and Gezien Brummelman). And of course, lots of interesting models in different styles to begin with.

For workshops, we had one main room whose walls were made of glass and opened onto the trees outside as well as two smaller, more typical rooms. Besides giving workshops, both those in the official schedule, and some extra, I managed to join a few classes as a folder. I also gave the presentation “My ongoing adventure with Shuzo Fujimoto’s origami”, which you can now view online. There were book sales, fun competitions, free folding into the night, and all the things you could expect from an origami convention. The group of about 50 people was large enough to provide lots of variety, but small enough to feel cozy, and to be able to connect with everyone. Even though this was just the first edition, everything was well organized, and near the end, it was announced that there would be another edition next year. I enjoyed the meeting a lot, and I’m happy to see a new convention appear.