Growing up in an immigrant household frequently meant sacrificing my passions because of financial hardship and an overwhelming expectation to achieve social mobility. As a young child, when I wanted a new toy but couldn’t afford one, I turned to origami, folding something else from the printer paper we had at home. What started off as a way to create toys transformed into a meaningful emotional outlet – origami became an extension of me. Obstacles and moments of achievement formed the valleys and mountains of my models.

Even now, as an adult with more resources, I still choose to continue folding with mainly regular paper. The principle of using accessible resources preserves my childhood dedication to push my upper limits regardless of circumstance. So I spend countless hours sticking regular sheets of paper together to make larger ones— studying, designing, folding, and pursuing complexity previously unexplored with cheap paper. I am resolved to draw upon origami’s infinite nature to infuse insignificant things with worth.