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https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/series/real-lives-of-origami-figures/

The Real Lives of Origami Figures


May 7, 2014 - Dec. 14, 2016

My mother taught me how to fold when I was a kid, and I've been folding ever since. Origami figures are fun to make and marvel at, but what are they REALLY like?



Stories from this series

A Thousand Cranes

Aug. 13, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

Another installment of The Real Lives of Origami Figures. It’s a hard balancing act: my need of space on one hand and responsibility towards the people in my life on the other. And occasional feelings of insignificance mixed in. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on April 25, 2014.

Cheating Creativity

July 30, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

I have actually been accused of cheating. In art! It boggles my mind. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on August 25, 2013.

It’s All How You Look at It

July 16, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

I recently got an iPad for traveling abroad. I wanted to be able to write and draw without lugging my trusty (but heavy) laptop around, as well as paper, pens, scanner, etc. I’ve been doing my recent “origami” cartoons on my iPad with the Paper app by 53 and a Wacom Tech Corp. Bamboo stylus. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on August 23, 2013.

What Did I Do with that Winning Ticket?

July 2, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

You can fold just about anything that’s paper: Post-its, dollar bills, gum wrappers, empty sugar packets, etc. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on August 22, 2013.

Life Is So Complicated

June 18, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

The trickier the folds, the more complicated origami gets. The more challenging, and yes, the more rewarding. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on August 21, 2013.  

Works in Progress

June 4, 2014 • Aaron Caycedo-Kimura

While I’m folding origami, people often try to guess what I’m making before I’m finished. We are all works in progress and don’t know what we will yet become. *This cartoon was originally published on INFJoe on August 20, 2013.

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Author in This Series

Aaron Caycedo-Kimura is the author of Common Grace (Beacon Press, 2022) and Ubasute (Slapering Hol Press, 2021). His honors include a MacDowell Fellowship, a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship in Poetry, a St. Botolph Club Foundation Emerging Artist Award in Literature, and nominations for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets anthologies. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Beloit Poetry Journal, RHINO, Plume Poetry, Poetry Daily, Shenandoah, Pirene’s Fountain, Salamander, Cave Wall, and elsewhere. Aaron earned his MFA in creative writing from Boston University. 

Updated January 2024