Master origami artist Akira Yoshizawa died Monday. He was born in 1911 to Japanese farmers. Trained as a draftsman, he developed the system of diagramming that is now universally used to communicate origami from one folder to another.
Master Yoshizawa was the acknowledged father of modern origami, and produced works of a very advanced design. He also introduced the now popular practice of wet folding origami.
He was founder of the International Origami Friendship Society, and continued to be actively involved in origami conventions to the last of his life.
He had exhibitions in Tokyo, Amsterdam (1955) and New York (1959) which made the starving artist world famous, and attracted much attention to the artistic potential of a heretofore obscure or overlooked medium.