Ella visits from London

Ella visited Como during her spring break with her mum from London.  She added her contribution to our tsuru basket in between sightseeing during her very first trip to Italy.  She thought she might recruit some of her friends in England  to help us with our project. What a great idea!

Erica designed our logo

This logo represents our mission.  Many hands big and small reaching out across borders.  Our new logo is born.  Thanks to Erica for her creativity.

Origami Workshop - Il Laboratorio di Origami

 “Many hands make light work”..  Some learned it fast, others just made a mess, a few got addicted.  After two days of help from lots of tiny hands we already made 200 cranes.  Great start!

My Cousin Erica was the source of inspiration

The idea of the cranes came about because of my cousin Erica.  She is my youngest cousin, who lives in Austin Texas, a graphic designer by profession but makes these great accessories crafted from origami inspired by her Japan roots.  She's our in-house art consultant who is also designing us a logo.  Grazie, Erica-chan!

Something "out of the ordinary" is telling us it must be done....

My attempt to find relief from a persistent cold that kept me in bed took me to a doctor, not my home doctor, who had a slot to fit us in.  When the doctor saw my health card and my name he looked up and asked "are you Japanese?".  For an Italian, who usually can't tell the difference between the Asian races, that was already pretty good.  Then he brought in his secretary for me to meet.  "Her nonna (grandmother) was Japanese, can't you see she still has that mandola (almond) eyes".  When Italians say this kind of thing I'm usually skeptical because I saw nothing Asian in her features....afterall so much of Italian blood, whether they like it or not, is generations of interracial mixing and especially with older Italians sometimes they even resemble an Asian. But then, the secretary herself verified the story.  "Yes her name was "Tsuru" and she was from Oita (one of the regions in the Southern Island)".  When I went home and recounted the story, the kids said to me "Mom, this tsuru thing is haunting you"  It must be some kind of fate you're doing this benefit".  

Can you fold origami?

When I told my friend Jo about the idea of folding origami cranes, she was wildly enthusiastic.  She'd never known that the crane had such an important meaning - peace, good fortune, longevity - and we were searching for a way to link our benefit art show with Japan relief.  "But do you know how to fold origami?" she asked hesitatingly?  I looked at her and said "Jo, as far as I'm concerned if you can't do one origami, you're not Japanese".  Her face lit up.

Practically the first thing you learn in kindegarten is origami. I still have my memory box full of origami artwork the children made, one of those things you can't bear to throw out because they are just so precious.  It's a craft that is widely taught in Japan as kids and like learning to ride a bicycle, we never forget it.