Five origami books by Shuzo Fujimoto are now public domain (opens in new tab)

Why is a cube 'startling'?

This is my favorite documentary! I've been folding origami for 13 years and this was definitely one of the catalysts.

in the US, you can watch it free with a library card on Kanopy[1] (if your library subscribes to Kanopy ofc)

[1] https://www.kanopy.com/product/independent-lens-between-fold...

Not yet, unfortunately, since I don't speak Japanese myself. Google lens helps with some segments but produces garbage for others. These books are not the most approachable and many sections do require some background in geometric folding. Hopefully, with the books being PD now, we'll be able to get help and make them more accessible to everyone. Meanwhile, you can find links to instructions for a few Fujimoto's works scattered around the web (on youtube, on my web page at https://origami.kosmulski.org/ and other places).

To be clear, I haven't tried any of them, but the diagrams seem pretty thorough. I'd imagine if you've done origami before, you'll be able to work it out with some trial an error. I'm certain there's some very valuable wisdom locked up in the text, but if you're just wanting to make the pieces, the info is there.

If you're familiar with Fuse Tomoko's work on his origami, and her books are much easier to read, it should be much easier to undestand.

I have used google lens with French origami book. Works well.

This looks like an interesting option I did not think of. Can anyone upload there? If so, I'll upload them myself. I was mostly aware of the Internet Archive and did not think of archive.org when it comes to books.

What exactly do you mean by "sharing site" and why is that more accessible to you than GDrive?

This is great! What else in the public domain is available like this? (through a nice & sleek app?)

Seems to be working now.

"Akira Yoshizawa. Japan's Greatest Origami" is a great place to start. it has models ranging from very simple to medium complexity. From there you can look into popular authors like Michael LaFosse (who appears in the documentary). He has many books for beginners (his butterflies are very famous). Once you are confident on your skills, get an insect book from Robert Lang to experience the Dunning-Kruger effect in full force.

For kids, it depends on their age. Mine started around 5 and 6 with small origami kits I bought in amazon (printed in creases makes things easier). For older kids you can find many books with specific themes. Just find one that your kid is interested in (animals, boxes, Pokemon, Star Wars, etc). They all tend to be rather simple.

Also, avoid printing paper. It only works for very simple models. Tuttle publishing sells some nice packages with 100~200 sheets that are nice for simple to medium models.

You can also find tons of free diagrams on the internet. /r/origami in Reddit also has a nice community you can check out.

-Edit I forgot to mention Jo Nakashima. He has a youtube channel with great videos to follow.

Unfortunately, paper versions are currently very hard to obtain. The last reprint was in 2007 (Twist Origami 1-3, and Introduction to Creative Playing with Origami), and the volumes were too little to match growing interest. When starting this project a year ago, I already had most of the books, but getting those I didn't own was very difficult. The copy of Solid Origami I grabbed was - I believe - literally the last copy I could find on the English-speaking internet. I grabbed it from Kim's Crane (https://kimscrane.com/) and I think they had a copy or two of Fujimoto's other books at the time.

If there is an origami society in your country, they may have some of these books in their library (rules for lending may vary, of course).

These books being so difficult to find was one of the reasons I wanted to ask Fujimoto's heirs to release the books to the Public Domain.