EBOC 2026

We have another East Bay Origami Convention (EBOC) this year on 4th - 5th of April. Even though I only attended the Sunday event, I had great time.

Pre-Convention

I got the news from discord server as well as invitation email. I like that they announced the convention theme: "aquatic" so we can plan accordingly on what to exhibit, teach, or diagram. I planned to teach point splitting and its generalization as lecture, and submit a simple turtle that can be folded from bird base + point split.

Later I thought this model would be too boring and unworthy of being diagrammed. So I designed this quick cuttlefish from bird base with point splits and finished the diagramming in 3 days. The turtle was demoted into exercise in the class which could be a nice practice and assurance that class participants are able to utilize the technique.

I planned to exhibit 2 of my new models: trapdoor spider and common wildebeest. The spider is a must as last year I told Ryan that it was in-progress. His fold of Kota's Japanese spiny lobster helped made up my mind to finish the spider to the bitter end. At last moment the common wildebeest was replaced with lamprey which was finished few days earlier and fits the convention theme.

The organizer did great job at communicating. Many details were emailed before the event especially on time where we can start checking-in. The room should be open at 10 and we have 1 hour to setup exhibition and hang out before the first class at 11. Also the special guests are: Joseph Hwang and Glenn Sapaden. Joseph came last year, and I met Glenn on the last PCOC.

Convention Day

The earliest train to Berkeley is 08.05 from Berryessa. My plan is to arrive around 9, go to MY coffee roastery to chill, then head to the event. Unfortunately the train had delays so I ended arriving in Berkeley late. Couldn't even drink the coffee in the shop. Their coffee is the best that I have ever had, highly recommended for black coffee enjoyer.

I arrived at the venue at 10 and met bunch others. The convention room was locked so we all spend time chatting in the outdoor area. Some of the participant folded action models from Jeremy Shafer and we ended up talking about him. I told them that we might see him, as historically he might crash into EBOC unannounced. Some time later the room is unlocked and we can setup exhibit. They printed us metal name tag for instructor and exhibitor.

My first class is Theo's bearded dragon. He shared the background that it was designed as exercise for teaching about molecules and tiling. There is a tricky sink but it was taught well thanks to clear description of where to precrease and where to start the sink, using terminology like "find the ice-cream shaped crease, and start the collapse by making the cone part all mountain".

Next I attended Glenn's lecture titled "Origomics: An Analysis of Origami Diagrams as Sequential Art". Basically he draws the similarity of origami diagram and comic, where a step is analogous to a panel. The jump from a step to the next one should be clear enough to convey what steps are being performed just like comic panels. He requested us to collect great and terrible diagram and send it to him as he likes to collect them. Had I bought the OUSA convention book 2025, I would have sent him "The Cove" for how unholy it is.

After the lecture I talked to him, and he recognized me as he attended my origami diagramming class. I shared my learnings from the lecture and realized that origami diagrams by itself is an art. Does it make the reader feel happy when they finish the diagram? Or will reader ridicule it like the aforementioned  "The Cove"? It is also a reflection of the author. Quality, how it is structured, and the personality of the diagram tells us about the author. We also talked about the use of other people's work in lecture. As he's an attorney, he knows about the law.

The committees brought us lunch pizzas. I was pleasantly surprised that they actually brought decent amount, it's enough for everyone and completely eliminated hunger with few leftovers. I ate quickly and spend time in the exhibition room to take pictures and chat with Joseph on his newer designs. I also chat with Parth, Boss, and Athreya whom I met in PCOC and discovered that we worked in the same industry or even the same company. 

Below are some photos of the exhibit. Just realized I missed taking picture of Ryan's exhibit.

Thomas's exhibit 

Tristan's exhibit 

Nishita's exhibit

My exhibit

Joseph's exhibit

Malcolm's exhibit

Glenn's exhibit

At that moment my hunch was proven right, Jeremy Shafer came unannounced. He taught impromptu classes. It was too full with participants so I didn't participate. 

Jeremy Shafer

I got the nicely colored paper from Ryan, even though I haven't used the last one he gave. Another participant, Ansel, started paper making apprenticeship somewhere in San Francisco and shared his handmade paper to me. His goal is to come up with new paper that is suitable for complex model so he would like to get feedback on the paper. These people are so kind to share their stuff for free.

We had Joseph teach his simple rhinoceros class next. It went with good pace and we finished just in time.

The last class of the day is mine. The participants were skilled folders so my plan to have participants fold the point split is skipped. It went nicely and we finished with extra 15 minutes remaining. I actually folded the variation of point splits shown in the lecture and brought it to the class. It was passed around and the participants can interact with it.

Box containing all point split I knew

Nishita gave an idea to design a kusudama where each module has a variation of point split like hands, claws, talons, etc protrude out of it, giving the vibe of unholy abomination kusudama. 

The next event was trivia of origami and aquatic life presented as game of kahoot. There were few janky questions where the answers were misconfigured, so the right answer was judged wrong. Andrew Hudson got the 1st place and he got the convention book as price. I got 2nd and Oliver got the 3rd, we got stickers of EBOC from this year and last year whose existence I was unaware of. The official convention ended with group photo. 

There was optional dinner with the committees at pizza place. I shall not eat pizza anymore out of fear of cholesterol, so I went back home. While waiting for BART train I met Maple and Athreya who were also heading south. We spent the train ride chatting. Athreya shared his experience building origami communities in India, where he ended up becoming like ambassador for origami. He even had Tomoko Fuse, Toshikazu Kawasaki, and Jun Mitani came as guest. What a cool experience.

As with previous years I had great time. Over the time since EBOC 2023, I get to witness how much the community has grown. Many kids grew up, and the overall skills of the participants have grown. Myself included. The Berkeley students have done great job at fostering the community.