A Side Shaft Down the Rabbit Hole

December will bring an excursion — extrusion? — of Robert Stikmanz into the world of performance origami. I’ll spend four or five days in my favorite cafés folding holiday trees under the eyes of all, one tree for each hangout.

If you follow Robert Stikmanz on social media, you know that I visit cafés often and that I usually mark a visit with one or another origami figure: a crane, a little bird, a dragon, a butterfly, a rose, etc. What sets the coming dates apart is that the tree is a composite piece requiring several hours to complete, and the cafés want to announce in advance when I’ll be present. This is what comes of leaving scraps of paper on tables.

Back up to this past December. One of the team at Ritual Café, a place familiar with my paper trails, asked if I would fold a holiday tree for their counter. I had never folded a tree, but nothing gets me out of bed like a challenge. It was already almost mid-December when she asked. I took about eight days to come up with an adequate solution. The staff at the café and some of the customers liked it better than I did. That was acceptable given a compressed turnaround.

Afterward, I kept thinking of ways to improve on what I had done. Change proportions. Change contours. Add parts. Devise a cap. R&D in the wake of little light bulbs chewed deep into a ream of printer paper. A more satisfying model emerged as adaptations accumulated.

Once I could see what I intended to make, I promised Ritual a new, better tree. Then I asked four other favored haunts if they would accept trees. At one, one of the owners suggested I give a workshop. I answered that working uninterrupted at home took over four hours to complete a tree, but that I would dedicate a day to fold one on-site in the dining room, answering questions about the process if asked.

When I mentioned this at the other cafés, they asked for the same. The manager at one said that she loved the idea of hosting an origami performance. I liked her turn of phrase. Now if only I had an insightful assistant to engage the gab while I work with inscrutable focus. Maybe next year.

After exploring and problem-solving with white printer paper, I’ve started practicing with more substantial paper in colors. The current model stands about nine inches, around 22 or 23 centimeters. Having found a source for paper in larger sheets, I’m pulled toward sizing up. Ideas open like rain lilies. Beyond trees, some grow.