Indonesia
The Origami Expert Brians Tjipto
No toy cars or pistols to be seen. Nor toy robots for that matter when Superkids Indonesia visited his house in Surabaya. Brians Tjipto had three cabinets containing his origami as his favorite toys instead. What made this 10 years old kid so crazy about paper folding art?
Halo, Brians.
Hi.
All these in glass cabinets, are they all yours?
They are. I have thrown even more. If broken, i remove them. That’s why i keep the ones that quite tricky to make. I have horse, balancing bird, big and small koi fish, werewolf, master Yoda of “Star Wars”, zeppelin, venus flytrap, angelfish, magic ball. A lot of them.
Did your mom taught you?
No.
Dad?
Big no. Hahaha!
How old when you start it?
Five years old. At first i used to make planes with restaurant bills. Out of curiosity, i went online and browsed about planes origami. It turned out, there are many other shape to make with just a piece of paper.
So that’s your magnet?
Yes. How we transform a piece of paper into shapes of anything. And i prefer things that are made of one paper only, instead of two or three papers and put them together.
What’s the most difficult have you made?
Dwarf. It has more than 1000 folds. It’s holiday so i make that one. Normally, my origami time is limited, or i could skip meals and forget to sleep. That dwarf alone, i have been working on it for four days and still yet to finish.
How so?
Because it needs to be glued to make it strong, dry it under the sun. It has those kind of process.
Still using only one paper?
Yes. A big size 50×50 cm. the paper was given by Lucifer Chong, a Facebook friend whom also origami lover from Malaysia. He is older though. I think about 27 years old.
So Lucifer sent you those papers from Malaysia?
Oh, no. We met in Kuala Lumpur the other day. Two weeks ago (the end of June 2014), in school break i went there with family. We also drop by to Malaysia Origami Academy in Penang. And then in Singapore, i met Ivan Danni, a college student from Indonesia who also loves origami. We hunted and shopped together. That was fun!
According to you Brians, when is the effect of origami to your life?
Origami is the only form of art that employs math, which is geometry. Painting, music and others don’t. I think people who are good at origami must be good at math at school.
You have any nickname at school for origami?
Not really. But friends often come to me ask or to learn of making flowers or others. Even teachers call for me before teaching origami. They want short lesson of making simple shapes.
Not interested of releasing books?
Hmm… Not yet. This is just a hobby for now that is fortunately supported by my parents. For now, i share what i know online. I taped the tutorials in Mandarin and English to get more followers. Also it can be understood by kids from other countries.
What do you expect for origami in Indonesia, Brians?
There are not many members of Komunitas Origami Indonesia (KOI) Surabaya yet. I’m the youngest, the rest are adults. I want origami to be more well known. I want to have kids of my age who also likes origami. I want people know, this is an educating hobby.
BIOFACT
Name: Brians Tjipto
Born: Surabaya, May 29 2004
School : Grade 5 at Surabaya Grammar School (SGS)
Parents: Agus Tjipto and Lia Fenchilia
Hobby: Origami
Languages: Indonesian, English, Mandarin
HAFIDA INDRAWATI
PHOTOS: HAFIDA INDRAWATI
