Unfolding ideas

Origami master promotes the art form to a growing audience, Wang Qian reports.

A single sheet of paper, in origami artist Pei Haozheng's eyes, has infinite possibilities. It can be folded into anything, from daily objects to mythical creatures, with imagination the only limit.

"The charm of origami lies in its creativity from a single square paper through just folding with no cuts or glue," says the 25-year-old.

He completed hundreds of lifelike models-mostly his original creations instead of copies of other artists' designs-and won the International Origami Internet Olympiad in 2017, combining the art's simplicity with Chinese cultural ideas. For the event's final task, Pei folded an ancient Chinese woman holding a mirror from a sheet of handmade xuanzhi (rice paper), which impressed judges with its exquisite shape and Eastern style.

Launched by Russian origami master Andrey Ermakov in 2011, the event is seen by many artists worldwide as the ultimate challenge to prove their origami skills. In 2018, Pei was invited to be the event's task designer. His work Bailuyuan ("white deer plain") was selected as the edition's logo and mascot.