An Origami Crane

Hey everyone, how nice to see you today!

I'm a big fan of packaging design. Many times, I've bought the item just because it came in a beautifully designed box or bottle. I'm also partial to the ones that can be recycled and reused.

A friend of mine vacationed in Tokyo and gave me a few bags of Kitkat. Unlike the chocolate or white chocolate varieties popular in the U.S., Japan has an excellent assortment of flavors! 

This is the Matcha or Green Tea flavor. I happen to love Matcha so this was right up my alley. It might, however, be an acquired taste for some who haven't had Matcha flavored drinks or desserts. 

Anyway, back to the packaging. I can't read Japanese but I loved this little detail: we can repurpose the package as Origami paper. 

Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper into decorative shapes like boxes, flowers, and hearts.

The use of photos really help convey a message. Plus, if we hover our phones over the QR code...  

...we're immediately taken to their website.

And we're given instructions on how to fold an Origami crane. Really fun and interactive!

I opened up the package by cutting the sides.

Then I trimmed it into an 8 inch x 8 inch square.

Using the instructions, I began folding, folding, folding...

Until I made a crane...TADA!

Legend has it that if one folds one thousand cranes, his/her wish will come true. This is just a baby step in that direction.

But I'm quite pleased that this package meant for the trash, I was able to turn from blah to TADA!

If you'd like to make your own Origami crane using paper you have on hand, check this and this out.

via Poetry Society of America

And because we're on the topic of origami cranes, I'm sharing this poem that I spotted on the New York subway in 2019. I love the line, "What we create may save us."

Have a good week!