The history of origata, the art of carefully folding gifts in decorative paper, will take you to Japan, 1336. Originally developed to wrap decorative fans or kelp in handmade paper, correctly folded origata can tell you about the relationship between the sender and receiver or the event the gift forecasts.

The Origata Design Institute honors the legacy of origata by resurrecting and reinventing traditional folding techniques.

Elsa Mora is hard at work! She is probably best known for her detailed paper cuts like the one above, but I really enjoyed the execution and arrangement of her porcelain work below also.

She is making lovely work in a variety of mediums, so go have a look!

Wow. I wonder what technique this artist uses to make this paper drape so elegantly. This must take a truly sincere amount of patience and dedication.

via three layer cake.

Peter Callesen cuts and assembles paper with skill. I really enjoy his presentation of the cut sheet along with the sculpture. It’s both precise and delicate; I find it interesting how he uses this context to play between 2d and 3d, drawing and sculpture - a remarkable effect.

I would buy these notecards from PressaRussa for the (thesaurus: rad) button collection alone. I like the idea of a thank you card that has a small gift inside so that you can finally stop being beholden to the giver. Or now the giver must thank you for the awesome button creating an oscillating loop of thank you notecards that will never end. Ever.

Clever, PressaRussa.

I also like the calling card style they are trying to bring back. It makes me harken back to old times when I used to just stop by places without calling or, sigh, memorize phone numbers. Whether your sense of humor is classic or slightly ominous, PressaRussa has something for you to love.

These paper fashion dresses by Jum Nakao are brilliant. Go here to see more or here to get a more in-depth picture of Nakao’s breadth of work.

Olivia Jefferies makes terrific drawings on found paper, book covers, and vintage envelopes to beautiful effect. Then, she sells them for extraordinarily reasonable prices. Seriously, go have a look at her work - it will make your day better. Lucky you!

1.

I first encountered the work of Brian Dettmer as a fan of the now defunct, aptly titled blog YourDailyAwesome — whose archives are well worth examining for the blasts of daily awesomeness he delivered daily for over a year.

2.

Compared to Dettmer, Kylie Stillman White’s work is starkly minimal, but no less impressive. It is worth getting an upclose look at this series to see how her book carvings do good work at replicating the feather features of different birds. Check them out here on her nice, austere homepage.

3.

The final image is from the UK’s Su Blackwell. I like how her book carvings become what she calls, ‘book-cut sculpture. ‘ The sculpture paper is exacted from the book on which she builds. More images at her home gallery.

Note: I found White and Blackwell while sifting through Camilla Engman’s paper art links she posted as a guest blogger for design*sponge. Camilla’s own artwork is fantastic and will likely get a post all its own someday soon.