{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Variety Show","title":"How Coco Sato Built a Career in Origami Art","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2285,"description":"To stay updated on future episodes, follow us on:TikTokInstagramYouTubeIf you have any comments about the podcast or are a performer who wants advice please do email info@thevarietyshowpodcast.co.ukArtist bio Coco Sato is a Tokyo-born origami artist, educator, and performer who reimagines traditional paper folding as large-scale sculpture, installation, and live performance. With a background in printmaking and photo media, she approaches origami as both a visual art form and a choreographed, audience-driven experience. Her work spans workshops for children and families, festival performances using giant paper and full-body movement, and collaborations that connect origami with STEM ideas like geometry and engineering.Episode summary In this episode of Variety, Adam Sternberg sits down with origami artist Coco Sato to explore how a simple sheet of paper can become sculpture, performance, and even a tool for teaching maths. Coco shares origami’s roots in Japanese history, from folded poetic letters and gift-wrapping traditions to its modern identity as a widely taught childhood pastime in Japan.Coco traces her own path from studying paper-based art and photography to building a career after becoming a mother, when she shifted toward teaching and discovered that scaling up origami made it more visible, physical, and performative. She describes moving from small demonstrations to giant outdoor festival work, where the folding itself became the art. They also discuss the difference between precision sculpture and live performance, the minimal tools required, and the real-world problems origami faces, including weather, soggy paper, and the challenges of giving clear instructions in the moment.Adam learns two simple folds on camera, a butterfly and a cat, and Coco explains why origami can be therapeutic, how it trains focus and concentration, and how it can reshape how people see creativity in everyday materials. The conversation also touches on origami’s links to...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/JHRDqil-H1p__PcBxkFKeWgvmzANKXqZzhsKiqUP0gc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mODc5/NmZkY2I4Nzk5OWNi/MjFiNDFhNzY5MTNi/NzI1Ni5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}