Posted by Kegan Tawney | Date Posted: 02 February, 2011
Known informally as “Corigami,” Corey Comenitz (BFA ’13) has been folding paper since the age of five. He recounts, “My mother was teaching my older brother to fold a crane, the only model she knew how to make. I surprised everyone when I folded one better than my brother’s.” From that point on, Comenitz collected more and more origami books, starting with very simple, basic-level books and moving to more complicated collections of models. To date, he owns more than one hundred books on the art of paper folding. “It was tough deciding which books to bring to school,” he says, opening a drawer full of origami books. Fortunately, Comenitz’ collection is a mere hour-long drive away in Boston, where he grew up.
Comenitz’ favorite origami artist, and the one that has influenced his art the most, is the late Eric Joisel, a French paper-folder who made strikingly life-like and playful models. This inspiration shines through in some of Comenitz’ original models, such as “Pulp Fiction”, or his “Disfigured Man”. “Pulp Fiction” depicts a man sitting on a block reading a book. It is folded from a single square sheet of paper, without cutting or gluing. The process of creating a model, he tells me, is one of “mostly trial-and-error.” He explains, “I usually have a fairly good idea of how a model may be folded before I pick up the paper, but there are certain things that you cannot account for when merely visualizing a piece of paper folding in your head.” Origami and the way it trains one’s mind to think is something Comenitz feels has been invaluable to him in his Industrial Design work. “The 3-dimensional aspect; being able to visualize and move from 2-D to 3-D,” he says too, has been beneficial in his studies during his sophomore year within the department.
In addition to his Metals II studio, Comenitz has committed his Wintersession term to studying Robert J. Lang’s Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art. This book is almost six hundred pages of intensive paper-folding theory and concepts, and is surely no simple task to decipher.
Diagrams for Comenitz’ original models have been published in books and collections amongst many other breathtaking designs. He attends conventions where he rubs elbows with the world’s greatest paper folders like John Montroll, Robert J. Lang, Michael LaFosse, and Won Park. He has displayed his work in more than one museum, and has been called one of the best and most promising of the young origami artists emerging today.
One can find Corey’s work at his website, Corigami, and at the Benefit Street art sales, where he holds one of the most popular RISD booths.
