I've just got back from the CDO convention in Castel San Pietro Terme near Bologna, and wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed it. First of course, I should like to thank Roberto Morassi, Sara Giarusso, and all the CDO people who organised it, also all the other people who contributed to making it a splendid experience. This was the largest convention I've attended so far (though that's not saying much), with a couple of hundred people from Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, the USA, and of course from all over Italy.

Kunihiko Kasahara gave a lecture on "Revolutionary Origami" reviewing the developments that have taken place regarding techniques and folding materials, and announced the forthcoming publication of his new book "Revolutionary origami 2000" (?) by Augustus Verlag in Germany early in 2001. Scheduled workshops were given by Kasahara, Eric Joisel, Jeremy Shafer and David Derudas. I particularly enjoyed attending Eric Joisel's mask workshop. With him, as with Vincent Floderer, I discovered something that does not limit itself to one model with a few variations, but reaches beyond that to a whole new approach opening up worlds of possibilities to experiment with. I can't wait to fold new masks! I also loved learning David Derudas' "Ranoshi" model (which can be found on the CDO homepage), a Noshi which transforms into a fine little frog and also made up the convention logo. Besides these formal workshops, there were also plenty of opportunities for free folding and I discovered a whole bunch of neat seasonal models this way: a Christmas dove taught to me by June Sakamoto, a couple of stars and Christmas trees by various people, a cute little Santa Claus, a gift package, a six-piece kusudama created by Nina Ostrun and taught by Andrew Borloz, which was a wonderful model for me as my patience for folding the same piece over and over again soon reaches its limits. (N.B.: this did not stop me from acquiring one of the Golden Venture kits mentioned in an earlier thread - the Chinese dragon on the box looked simply irresistible!)

It was marvellous even to just stroll round and look at the exhibits. Even the best photographs can't rival seeing the actual models somehow. I'd heard/read so much about Giunta's insects, or Joisel's Pangolin and masks, seen the diagrams for some of the models by Shafer or Budai, even folded one or two of them, and yet I was delighted to see the original works. It's more than a demonstration of skill or the discovery of new techniques, it's an experience of surprise and beauty, an impulse to explore and work out new ideas, a stimulation to create. Just before going to the convention, I happened to read the following quotation : "If you and I exchange a dollar, then each of us still has only one dollar just like before ; but if we exchange our ideas, you get two, and so do I." What I experienced at the convention was the living proof of this.

On Saturday evening, Jeremy Shafer gave us a spectacular show, entertaining us with his trick models, juggling and monocycle stunts. He certainly likes playing with fire... but I'm not sure his recommendation to the children present not to try the same stunts at home was very convincing! It was also fun to discover more of what is going on origamiwise in Hungary and Israel, and to get to know more of the O-list members personally, so as to be able to put a face to the names I see in the postings.

And I enjoyed the discussions we had about why people liked origami, or why they liked the models they presented on the "Favourite models" table. Needless to say, I went home dragging luggage heavier by half with new books and packs of paper... so now there'll be plenty of new models to fold for a while... Thanks to all the participants I met for the sharing, and happy folding to all of you!

Julia Palffy