the origami people
A brief history of The Origami People
Michael Clonaris: Michael began Origami in 1985 after his sister returned from Japan and taught him 3 origami designs. He made 1000 Origami cranes that same year and shortly afterwards met and married his wife Etsuko who urged him to farther pursue Origami as a profession.
In 1986, along with Simon Peart, Etsuko and his sister Debby they made a huge 7 metre square Origami crane for the International year of Peace activities.
Michael has appeared on television and radio, has been published in Vogue and Home Beautiful magazines, has made Origami for advertising, for commercial shops, for national sale catalogues, conventions and corporate functions.
Michael has taught Origami to both children and adults at many schools, fairs and community group workshops. He has also exhibited and taught at the Japan Festivals in Sydney held at the Queen Victoria Building. Micheal visits Japan for at least one month every year to farther refine his skills and stay abreast of all the latest Origami trends
Etsuko Nagashita-Clonaris: Etsuko has been creating Origami since early childhood as most young people do in Japan. She knows many traditional forms and teaches young children Origami in Sydney at the International Grammar School as part of the pre-school education.
Etsuko likes to make smaller and smaller origami after the design has been learned. This miniaturisation improves the overall craftiness of Origami. She taught her daughter Origami at home and thus continues the Japanese tradition of mother to child teaching.
Philosophy: Origami has the power to transform a whole society. Michael believes that the manual craftiness of the Japanese is awakened at an early age by the widespread use of Origami during childhood. The relaxing qualities of Origami have also imparted an active meditational tool to the society.
Our Workshops: Students at the Origami People's courses will learn the bases: square, bird, fish, w-boat, blintz etc. They will learn to relax by always having small pieces of paper on hand to pass the time. They will learn creativity and playfulness.
Origami and Children Origami enables children to entertain and educate themselves for long periods of time with minimal exertion. Students are taught the visual language of Origami design and are encouraged to expand their skill via libraries and the internet. The lessons are graded with more difficult pieces taught once the basics have been mastered.
Today: Michaels expertise is often sourced by Creative Directors of leading Ad Agencies producing ads for distribution across all types of media.
He has been the subject of a number of specialist television productions broadcast nationally including SBS TV's "Here Comes The Neighbourhood" and TEN's "Totally Wild". In 2009 his work was featured in a series of segments on ABC TV's New Inventors program.
Examples can be seen in our gallery.
A large portion of Michaels time is devoted to farthering Origami education and instruction within the community through his group workshop activities which are aimed at nurturing creativity amongst people of all ages and backgrounds.
See our events section for more details.
The Origami People's products are sold in some of Australias most prestigous Art Galleries, Boutique Gift Shops and Handcraft stores.
In addition to product sold from local retail we also sell globally to individuals and overseas retailers directly through this site.