ColumnFolds that shoot right for our imaginations.

It is not unusual for a five-year-old child to fold paper into an airplane. What sets Sipho Mabona apart is that fifteen years after that first fold, he had exhausted his airplane designs and ventured into origami where his passion took a twist.

Says Mabona:

I grew up in small, picturesque Lucerne, Switzerland. My mom taught me how to fold paper airplanes around age five and I fell in love with the self-made toys right away. I always threw the planes out of our 3rd floor apartment window. The landlord wrote several letters to my parents telling them this needed to stop but I kept on throwing them into my neighbors’ gardens, until they finally threatened to evict us. 

A beautiful origami octopus became the tipping point for Mabona’s career which took off when it was spotted online, and inspired the shoe company, Asics, to create the movie shown below.

Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.

Whether creating installations and interiors, crafting animals or abstracts, Mabona works with geometry to crease patterns of intricate beauty and precision. It’s a long way from disturbing the neighbors, and shoots right for our imagination.

Inspired by an article in D Pages.

Eco, trends, art, creativity and how they tumble through social media to shape culture fascinate EcoSalon columnist Dominique Pacheco. Her trends blog, mixingreality, speaks to these topics daily, and here at EcoSalon, she takes a weekly look at the intersection of eco and art. We call it heARTbeat.

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