Mastering the art of origamic architecture

He has played with paper perhaps more than he has played with any toy. No one has taught him the art of paper-folding or making beautiful craft items from them, but this wonder boy from the Pink City, not only enjoys his experiments with paper, his passion has also made him win many prizes. Saurabh Patni, a student of VIIIth standard in Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan’s  Vidya Ashram school in Jaipur is the cynosure of all eyes as he simply woos everyone with the intricate models that he creates.

He started paper-folding when he was barely four years old. Also owing to his father’s offset printing business, there was no dearth of waste paper in the house and little Saurabh was always  attracted to the paper lying around instead of the expensive toys that his doting parents got him. Initially, his mother Beena and father Pradeep, felt little uneasy with his odd penchant for paper, but when they saw him make attractive models of cars, cameras, cycles, slippers, it simply amazed them. Now they could see a method in his madness and started encouraging him innovate more and more with paper folding in his pastime.

On the suggestion of a family friend, Sunita Sharma, also a school teacher, Saurabh’s mother mustered up the courage to approach Saurabh’s school principal to exhibit his creations in the classroom. Saurabh got instant admiration for his artistry by teachers as well as his fellow mates. With encouragement and motivation from teachers and family, he started participating in craft competitions. Since then, he has many inter-class competitions, apart from state level competitions, diploma of distinction in Nehru Cultural award, All India Colour contest award etc. to name a few.

He makes his creations by using tape, staple, fevicol and colour, wherever necessary. His creations speak a great deal of his minute observation, imagination and fine details. From Jet Airways’ aircraft to a wide range of car models, space rockets to shuttles, Spiderman to bay blades—Saurabh’s paper world offers a rich variety. He has even made his school uniform with paper, a look alike of a cloth one, his school bag  and water bottle as well. His treasure trove is getting enhanced day by day.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, he told about his latest collection of a dual slider phone, Nano, a solar farm house and paper model of the World in 2050—with floating cars, robots taking dogs for a walk, a tree apartment etc.—that’s what he thinks the picture would be with the change in environment.  A few months back he has also won the Titan Zoop Dream Watch contest in which contestants were asked to draw a model, entirely different from the ones listed in the Titan catalogue. He loves to flaunt the watch he has won in the competition and wishes to be a computer engineer.