My "canonical" essays start with the original Everything is Awesome, published in June of 2022. I had penned some long-form works before then, but that one particular work marks the start of my writings in earnest. The works written henceforth represent my engagement with all aspects of origami: its artistic potential, its technique, its history, its connections to other crafts and disciplines. They also represent a broader personal transition from merely creating models to trying to understand and critique origami as a whole, and an attempt to make origami a subject of genuine intellectual discussion. The essays are organized in categories below.
The Crane Trilogy
A series of three (later expanded to five) essays surrounding the most famous model in origami, the crane, in an attempt to understand its cultural and political symbolism. Also an exploration of my own philosophy of creation, where I ask myself what I want to create with origami and why. By far my longest work if taken as a unified whole, spanning over 17,000 words.
Note that while I consider the revised trilogy to be the sole definitive version, the original three essays are linked here as a historical curiosity of sorts.
The Revised Crane Trilogy (2026)
Sunday in the Park with Sadako
Michael James Wong and the Desecration of Sadako Sasaki's Legacy
The Original Crane Trilogy (2022-2023)
Everything is Awesome (or, The Emotional Emptiness of Origami)
Sunday in the Park with Sadako
One-Offs/Miscellaneous Essays
These are long-form essays like the Crane Trilogy but don't form part of an overarching series. Topic and tone vary.
The World's Strangest Paper Size
Papercamp 4: Origami and Orientalism talk
My Favorite Works
Reflections on individual designs that I enjoy, and that I try to learn from when making my own designs.
Samuel Randlett's Flapping Bird
Origami Showerthoughts
Half serious, half in jest, these are the cast-off musings of my bizarre and inexplicable brain. If they have any purpose at all, it's to pique somebody's interest in something in origami, no matter how insignificant.
All works under the Showerthoughts tag
Other
While these aren't strictly essays, but they're still written works of some sort and it would be a shame not to at least mention them.
What I've Learned from Folding Every Robert Lang Insect
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