Rencontres de mai 2020 at Louvain-la-Neuve

Due to the epidemic and the uncertainty of the organizational conditions at the end of May, the association’s board of directors has decided to postpone the meetings for this year. More informations as soon as we can.

Our 2020 “Rencontres de Mai” will take place exceptionnaly at Louvain-la-Neuve, in Belgium from May 21^th to 24^th at Ecole Normale Catholique du Brabant Wallon (ENCBW). They are jointly organised with the folder group « Origami Chez Gérard »

(Quick link to registrations)

This year, we will be very pleased to welcome three international guests : David Gachepapier, Alizée Glasser et William Huang.

The “Rencontres de Mai”

Rencontres de Mai offers privileged moments to meet and share with other paper folders.

The timetable of this event is divided in different workshops and classes of various levels (usually four periods per day with parallel sessions), lectures or talks, as well as exhibitions of guests and participants” works. There might be other highlight such as collective projects, games, visits. If you have any ideas or proposals, feel free to share them to us !

It’s also an important event for the association which organises its ordinary general meeting.

Registration for the convention includes the access to any workshop during the booked period, a welcome pack that includes paper and surprise goodies as well as a convention booklet with diagrams from invited folders, participants and other contributors. Feel free to propose your own models to be included. Further details are available below.

Access to workshops and classes is free within the limit of the number of available seats. You can register to workshops during the day with a pre-registering form, which is made public every morning when the convention opens.

The convention starts on thursday at 10:00 a.m. and ends on sunday at 17:00 p.m.

Our special guests

David Gachepapier

Hello, it’s « Gachepapier » on the phone. I have been folding and inventing origami models seriously since 2008.

Starting especially thanks to the online community gathered on the forum pliagedepapier.com, I first found myself fascinated by the observation that « you can fold any shape ». Very quickly I discovered that this is only true in mathematical terms and the technical limits of folding almost led me to loose interest.

Fortunately for me, the works of artists like Eric Joisel and Stephan Weber allowed me to realize that origami is a medium that lends itself to expression, humor and the graphic translation of feelings. This is how for the past ten years I have continued to explore this idea, using mainly wetfolding, creasing and folding with other materials.

My favorite subjects are alive and must be expressive, masks therefore have an important place among my folds, just like fantastic or whimsical creatures of all kinds – as long as they seem to have something to say.

Finally, if folding has been able to take on such proportions in my daily life, it is also thanks to the folders I have met over the years, both online and in real life. It was one of his meetings that allowed me to share my work in the form of a book published in December 2019, Shaping Paper, in collaboration with Dáša Ševerová.

• https://gachepapier.blogspot.com/
• Shaping Paper : Breathing Life into Origami

Alizée Glasser

I learned the traditional rosacea at school when I was 9 years old. Then I did a lot of variations of this model. I continued to learn simple models and, in 2011, I saw a waiter folding a rose in paper napkin. I reproduced it and derived it to satisfy my taste. As soon as I saw the diagram of Florence Girard’s flamenco dancer, I wanted to fold it and to adapt it to ballet dancer. I didn’t have silk paper, so I tried various king of papers : non printed newspaper (result not fluid enough for me), paper handkerchief (the model was very fluid but didn’t stand on its own), paper napkin, and toilet paper. Finally, toilette paper gave the best result : a very delicate model that can stand on its own. I have then applied this technique to create characters and flowers, the richness of nature giving me inspiration. The laboratory paper towels, with similar composition than toilet paper but with bigger sheets, have opened new horizons for me. I like the vaporous side, the lighting effects, and the purity of the white color that this paper can bring.

• https://www.flickr.com/photos/103744058@N08/

William Huang (Huang Zhen Ming)

I still remember the very first time I played with papers, it started with a traditional crane that I was taught by my sister. I can still picture the way we folded it and how it was done, the moment I pull outward the wings brought me so much joy and fun—hence sparks the following decade of my brand-new folding journey.

Back to those school days, I always folded things with those papers that I could easily collect such as exam papers as well as magazine papers. Aside from that, I taught people origami all the time no matter what age they are, every smile I pick up from them delights me deeply and benefits me in a mindful way.

After more than ten year experience of folding paper, I am finally able to design my own models and share them with people around me, most of them are animals and mythical creatures. I enjoy the most when I need to re_shape the model, when it is finished, it feels like magic that allows me to energize the model with the way my eyes figures this world with enthusiasm.

Few years ago, I was honored to be a member of Taiwanese Origami Association-where allows local folders to fold together and be associated to the trends of origami. It is a lovely community and it is a pleasure for me to work with them at each workshop. We held hundreds of workshops around Taiwan over the past few years and the goal in mutual is to spread the happiness and mindfulness to individuals whom are from different cultures and with different backgrounds. It is not only our way to create bonds but the way to produce pleasant connection wherever we fold.

I myself always treat origami as a bridge that enables people to communicate with each other without any language barrier. For me, it is a practical way to entertain people without costing too much-which makes it ideal to teach and share. In the near future, I will keep on this journey of folding as origami lover.

• Origami Creature : 16 Classical Paper Creatures of New Style

Registrations

Registrations to the Rencontres de Mai 2020 are processed as they come and are open until Mai 10^th 2020.

You can join using the online registration form or using the paper version available in PDF format. A confirmation of you registration will be sent to you by email within a week.

Minors must be accompanied by an adult. Please do not forget register the accompanist as well.

Payment

Payment can be done by cheque, bank transfer or Paypal (with a 4% fee). Cheques are cashed once a month after the 10^th. You can also pay by credit card at our parisian place.

Do not pay anything during the pre-registration phase. You will receive a confirmation that summarizes your order and the amount to pay to validate your registration to the convention. In case of late payment after the pre-registration, fees may be applicable.

The fees are as follows :

Cancellation and refund policy

You will be fully reimbursed of the registration fees for any cancellation until March 22^th 2020. After this date, 20€ will be held until May 10^th 2020. Reimbursements for accommodation or meals are possible if the association find a replacement, or if the host bears its own costs. That is why refunds and cancellations after March 22^th 2020 will be processed at the start of June 2020.

Accommodation

Gîte Mozaik

Accomodation has to be book with the registration.

Other places

You are also free to take care of your accommodation in any places you want. Please keep us informed, so that we can put through participants that are hosted in the same place if they want to. For these housing and other places, you are responsible of booking them separately. There is some restaurants in the pedestrian area.

Venue

Louvain-la-Neuve is a mainly pedestrian university town. When looking for your way by car or train, be careful not to confuse it with Louvain (= Leuven) which is 40 km away.

• By car. Highway E 411 exit 8a (Louvain-la-Neuve center). Please note that parking in Louvain-la-Neuve is generally expensive (1h = 2.30 €, 24h = 15 €). However, there are decentralized possibilities for free parking. These are smart parking. It is highly recommended if you want to leave your car for more than a few hours. More info here : http://www.tourisme-olln.be/en/en-pratique/se-deplacer-et-circuler-en-ville.html
• By train.From Brussels-Midi (international station) or Zaventem (airport), you have to reach the Ottignies station located on the Brussels-Luxembourg line. From Ottignies, between two and four trains per hour will bring you to the Louvain-la-Neuve terminus station. Use the website https://www.belgiantrain.be/fr to plan your trip.
• By plane. Louvain-la-Neuve is at 40km from two international airports :
  1. Zaventem (=Bruxelles-National) which offers easier wat to reach Ottignies by train.
  2. Gosselies (=Charleroi-Bruxelles-Sud).

• Carpooling. You can use the French origami forum https://pliagedepapier.com or inform us if you are looking for transportation using car sharing, we may be able to put you in touch with other participants from the same area.

Call for contributions : Convention Book

If you want your diagrams and crease patterns to be published in the convention book, you can submit them now, and before April 1^st to rencontres@mfpp-origami.fr. All documents will be printed in grey scale on A4 papers. Submissions are preferably to be sent in PDF format. If you diagram is accepted, you will received a numeric copy of you author version of the convention book. You can also order a physical copy if you so wish.

By sending your documents, you certify that you are in possession of the rights and authorizations from their authors for their publication.

You will be contact by 15 april if your diagram is accepted.

Workshops

Take advantage of the Meetings to teach other folders ! Small or large workshops, any idea is welcome. If you are not the author of the folding you want to teach, remember to inform the author.

Attendees map

Our attendees come from everywhere ! Please check where each comes from to plan a carpooling or a pre-meeting.