Washi, Origami

“OPEN, IT STRETCHES; CLOSED, IT ROLLS UP. IT CAN BE CONTRACTED OR EXPANDED; HIDDEN AWAY OR DISPLAYED.” – Fu Xian (Jin Dynasty), approximately 150 years after invention of paper. My connection to Japan and its culture goes back before I can even remember. My parents hosted a Japanese student when I was just a baby. I don’t remember Masa, but his gifts such as the storybook of Momotaro, the Peach Boy, and our happi jackets, are deep indelible memories. At the end of 2019, just pre-COVID, I was in Japan for concerts with a range of astounding musicians including Walter Lang (who has sadly since passed away), Shinya Fukumori, Masaki Kai, Motohiko Ichino, Sumire Kuribayashi and Akihiro Nishiguchi. The beginnings of the idea for Washi – Japanese paper (和紙) made by hand in a traditional manner – came while shopping in a department store in Osaka, finding these concertina style books that I used to create individual graphic scores or art books. Utilising handmade papers and improvising my own origami folds, each book is unique, inviting the musicians to consider the paper’s textures, shapes, lines, patterns, colours and layers as the elements to inspire musical ideas. Does this mark an end, or is it just a point on a circle? We’ll see Adam Simmons

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