Origami with Bob

Bobbie Vijayakkar, an architect and interior designer, revitalising his romance with the millennium old craft – Origami at the young age of seventy. Do monsoons evoke nostalgic childhood memories of making paper boats and watching them sail amidst the gushing rain? Do you recall the joy of flying a paper aeroplane on a beautiful, sunny day? Or perhaps the excitement of becoming a fortune teller as you folded paper into tipi-tiptip- top shapes for your friends? Little did we know at the time that this effortless play with paper is part of an ancient art form with a name This hobby of paper folding stuck with ten year old Bob when he saw a paper sculpture at one of the art festivals of Mumbai. He further explored this curiosity through art classes in school, all the while, amused by how the most simple, economical and easily available medium of all had the ability to create infinite objects. Born and brought up in Malad, Bombay, Bob nurtured the craft of origami encouraged by his father and driven by his passion. His artistic side further led him to pursue Architecture at J.J. School of Arts. college, art festivals such as Kalaghoda and Bombay Happy streets and government/corporate organisations, as part of team building seminars or ice-breaking sessions. Bob exclaims how his patience allowed him to try his hand at making objects requiring more than 1000 folds. The art of origami is almost meditative as it involves good hand-eye coordination, patience and persistence to make neat and crisp folds. Interestingly, origami has also been explored in the field of world architecture for designing facades that selectively control light. Bob has also explored ‘kirigami’ – a variation of origami in which paper is folded as well as cut to create a pop-up king of 3D objects. On retiring from architecture, Ar. Bobbie Vijaykar hopes to develop his hobby further and desires to either rent a space or convert his living room into an origami lab thereby becoming an active element of origami clubs.