He was nine years old when he conducted his first workshop and this is something he will never forget. Today, at 26, he is already an international award winner and world-renowned origami expert.
“It was a crazy experience but with a piece of paper in hand I am in my zone,” says Goa resident Shivaram Ananthanarayanan about that first time. There have been many more after that and he has had students attending his workshops, be it in the state, country or across the globe, as young as nine and others that have been, of course older than him, yet listening carefully and following instructions.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that he has single handedly made a significant contribution in exposing this unique art to audiences across India.
Shivaram has come a long way since he first began his tryst with the fascinating art of origami at the age of 5. “I started folding paper then and my parents Janani and Ananthanarayanan spotted that I had an aptitude for this art and so they fed me with more origami books and paper,” says Shivaram who is completely self taught and has had no formal training in origami.
He added that he would love the love the challenge of attempting to make three dimensional and realistic origami designs from a flat 2d square when asked if there was still anything he was yet to accomplish.
Another aspect of Shivaram career’s that sets him apart from the crowd is that he opted for home schooling in order to pursue his efforts and passion in the complex art of origami.
Shivaram’s creative pursuits have led him to explore the relation between origami and the South Indian art of ‘Kolam’ (an art of weaving exquisite patterns on the floor using rice flour) and he has created various unique origami models weaving the fascinating Kolam patterns on paper.
Shivaram has been consistently committed to bringing the joy of origami and has been sharing his expertise with various categories of underprivileged and special children. He has the ability to fold models blindfolded. This has opened a new vista of possibilities for teaching this art to the blind and visually impaired. He has plans to bring out a book with instructions in Braille for this purpose.
He was also invited by the Consul General of Japan, Mumbai to conduct a two-day exhibition for mentally challenged and spastic children and senior citizens and the general public.
Another feather in his cap was the workshop – Peace of Paper – that involved over 1000 children from various schools in Mumbai to commemorate the birth centenary of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the International Year for Peace. The peace symbols – the origami crane, the National bird peacock and the International peace symbol the dove – were taught and created by the children through origami and it was displayed at the Nehru Centre.
Speaking about the scope of origami in India and Goa, Shivaram feels that for a long time it has been considered as a craft and not given the actual importance it deserves and that origami is on par with any other sculptural art.
“It is in essence paper sculpture,” said Shivaram while adding that compared to his younger days, it is more widely known now and even taught in some schools.
‘Shiv’, as he is popularly known, wants to create a community of folders/paper engineers given its applications in a variety of fields.
Lately he has been busy conducting workshops at the Goa and Bhubaneswar architecture colleges, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Chennai, giving a talk at TEDx event at BITS, Goa and also made origami designs that were used by the famous designer Wendell Rodricks in his work.
