Asia Bizz: The grandmaster of origami, Akira Yoshizawa, was paid tribute by search engine giant Google through its Doodle on his 101th birthday on March 14, 2012. The paper folding skills of origami was celebrated by Doodle to mark the 101th anniversary of Yoshizawa.
Akira was the person who turned origami from children’s pastime in to a serious art form and was also known for his innovative folding techniques. The logo of Google has been designed that show the letters in paper folding design to mimic the popular art form.
Yoshiwara was born in the year 1911 to dairy farming parents and moved to Tokyo at the young age of 13. The origami expert started working in a tool factory. During his early 20s, he was promoted to a technical draftsman and used origami that was a skill acquired as a child.
He used to teach younger employees the basic geometry. In the mid 30s, he left the factory and went on to pursue his passion for the art and worked on it for more than two decades. The origami expert lived in poverty and sold preserved fish from door to door. But in the year 1951, one Japanese magazins commissioned him to fold the 12 signs of Japanese zodiac to illustrate its next issue and this pushed him to an international level.
