When Leong Cheng Chit retired from the civil service in 2000, he had plenty of time on his hands. He literally needed something to keep his fingers busy, and chanced upon the art of origami. "I was looking for something creative to take up, something that could make use of my spatial skill and training in engineering," says Mr Leong, who is now the CEO of a start-up company.
He bought several origami books and folded insects and crustaceans. But he wasn't satisfied. "To be a good origami artist, you need to experiment and learn from other advanced artists," he says. "Origami artists are generous in sharing their folding techniques."
Three months after learning origami from books, Mr Leong experimented in creating 3D origami pieces. He has done animals such as elephants, seals, bulls and roosters. They are all folded from a single sheet of paper. They look complex, but Mr Leong says his training in naval architecture has helped in his understanding of 3D folding.
Like how a ship's hull is created by cutting away excess sections of steel plates, rolling them into sections of a cone and welding them together, "for origami, you find ways of folding the excess paper and tucking the folds away", says Mr Leong.
According to him, like music, creating origami comes in two parts: composing and execution. Composing can take a few hours to a couple of days, and folding can take up to a day.
Mr Leong occasionally teaches origami. "I don't teach it as a craft, but instead I see origami as a way of teaching design and mathematics."
He also gets commissions from corporate companies to do 3D origami pieces, and once folded an arowana which he presented to then prime minister Goh Chok Tong for his birthday.
These days, he sells his works to those who appreciate origami as an art form. Mr Leong also folds for charity organisations that auction them to raise money. "I also fold pieces for friends on their birthdays."
Written by Tay Suan Chiang for The Business Times