On 23rd July Matthew Gardiner wrote: > It's worth the trip to a library, the Bauhaus approach is inspiring, and that trip could > yield more references.
I have been very inspired myself by the Bauhaus approach to using paper folding as a teaching aid on courses of Design in Higher Education. My 'Folding Techniques for Designers' book is very Bauhaus in content and spirit. Aside from the courses I run myself, I know of at least 3 HE courses of Design (one in Textiles and two in Architecture -- in Bogota, New York and Kuala Lumpur) that use the book as the basis of a course. From my experience, few people teaching in HE seem aware that paper folding was taught at the Bauhaus. Incidentally, many of the Professors who taught at the Bauhaus, including Albers, were educated in Froebel kindergartens, where 'papier falten' was one of the prescribed activities. A fascinating book, 'Inventing Kindergarten' by Norman Brosterman, charts the influence that Frobelian education had on the geometric art and design aesthetic of the 20th century. My conjecture is that this is the origin of Albers' interest in teaching paper folding. Many years ago I was working as a 'Folding Consultant' for Siemens, in Germany. I was taken one day to visit a very elderly retired Senior Designer, who had been given an honorary office to work and play in. He greeted me with huge enthusiasm, saying, 'Come and look!'. He opened several plan chest drawers full of grubby and disintegrating examples of folded paper. 'I made these in Prof Albers' class as the Bauhaus', he said. 'I still use them when I'm stuck for inspiration'. Of course, I didn't have a camera (slaps own wrists) and have rarely felt so dumbfounded and numbed. It was like looking at Holy relics. :-) Best wishes, Paul Jackson www.facebook.com/foldinganddesign
