Finnish origami artist Juho Könkkölä is well-known for skillfully displaying the incredibly intricate process of folding origami. His newest work was an exquisitely detailed samurai warrior from a single piece of paper. Juho mentioned that he didn’t cut nor tear the paper to create the delicate folds and definitive characteristics.

Given the opportunity, Bored Panda reached out to the artist to find out a little bit more about his craft and the inspiration behind his work.

“I became interested in origami when I was a little kid, I was intrigued by the possibilities of what kind of things could be folded from paper. For a long time, it was a passionate hobby for me and I didn’t consider it very artistic, it was more like a craft for me. Then around 3 years ago, in 2018 I got interested in designing my own figures because there weren’t many origami human characters made before.”

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Juho’s main work is the “Samurai Warrior,” as the artist said it took him over 50 hours, a little water, and several metal paper fasteners to keep things in place

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

“When I got my origami displayed in one big art exhibition last year, I started to see the artistic value in it and I decided to pursue it further to see what kind of art I can come up with. And now it is my current artistic focus and I am constantly developing it into new directions.

For a long time, fantasy-themed origami, such as dragons and human figures inspired me. Probably the most influential artists for me were Kamiya Satoshi, Robert J. Lang, and Chen Xiao, but currently, I get my inspiration from folktales, mythologies, history, and nature.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

We asked Könkkölä what kind of challenges one might face when getting into the art of origami.

“There are many challenges in origami, such as the complexity of models, or the difficulty of not tearing the paper, but I think the self-discipline to practice and keep on working on the creations is the most difficult to overcome. Many people face the fall when they find a model too complex to fold, and then they stop at it. The real challenge is to keep on trying even after numerous amounts of failures.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

According to the artist, origami can be applied in many different ways.

“Origami is currently applied in many sciences, for example, in folding space telescopes, in product design, in nanotechnology, and even in airbags to make cars safer for us. I think origami can be a great tool to share cultural interests or to show the world what can be possibly done with human creativity. It could also be used in art therapy and in education.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Juho believes that, as much as some of his projects might be hard to complete, there are a lot of rewarding things that can be found along the process.

“The most rewarding part of the process is to see the work come to life from the concept and idea. Also finding the solutions to the problems that occur in the process brings me excitement.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

The Finnish artist told us that some of his creations take only a few hours to fold, but as for others, it always depends on the complexity of the projects.

“Some of my creations take only a few hours to fold, while others can take up to hundreds of hours of work. The more complex the work is, the more I have to spend time to figure out all the necessary structures to be able to fold it. The process of creating a work from the initial idea can take anything from a few days to even over a year.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Juho has a lot of plans for the future, but he hopes to continue exploring within his field.

“In the future, I would love to keep exploring the possibilities of folding paper. I develop my techniques further and create new and unique artworks. I have been planning on creating even more complex designs, but those need a bit more tinkering before I can reveal them. In the upcoming summer, many of my works will be exhibited in art exhibitions. I have a lot of plans and possibilities to continue creating this art, we will see what I can come up with next.”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

The artist shared the folding process of the “Samurai Warrior” on his Instagram account:

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

The video process of folding “Samurai Warrior”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

Here’s some more work by the Könkkölä, “The Angelic Knight”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

“The Lord of the Dragon”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

“Spear Warrior”

Image credits: jkonkkola_origami

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