My brother's family came to visit Paris from Copenhagen in April this year.
I taught my nieces (10) and nephew (14) some origami and they loved it!
If you went to a kindergarten in Japan you learn it.
When I was growing up my teenage years in Greenwich CT,
sometimes I was hired to teach origami at children's birthday parties.
My nieces packed all their origami creations in their suitcases
but they forgot an origami frog.
After my Danish family left,
my cousin Toshiko and her daughter Sachiko came to visit us from Japan.
Sachiko spotted my nieces' origami frog, then I found out that
Sachiko LOVES "frogs", she knew how to make a jumping frog
and I taught her how to make this one.
We had a great visit together.
When my cousins went back to Japan, Sachiko sent me a book on "Furoshiki".
I was delighted to receive the book;
A Complete Guide to Furoshiki by Etsuko Yamada.
My grandmother was using "Furoshiki" all the time.
A Japanese friend gave me a "Furoshiki" long time ago,
now I understand the ingenious way of using it.
"Furoshiki" is quite clever.
It is an origami fabric.
It is how you fold and tie which is genius.
You can wrap so many different shape of objects beautifully.
I love its simpleness, it is only a cloth.
I love its smartness, it looks really cool.
I love the fact it is environmentally friendly.
This Art of Japanese wrapping is worth spreading to the world.
So this inspired me to illustrate a little book on "Furoshiki".
Thank you for my Danish and Japanese family for the fun time together,
and thank you Sachiko for sharing the book with me.
'Furoshiki"
Art of Japanese wrapping,
L'art Japonais de l'embalage
illustrated by Yukié Matsushita
will be on sale
at the Marché de Noêl at the American Church in Paris.
Save the Date!