Japanese street artist Shin Tanaka is a paper folding genius, who’s best known for his elaborate paper sneakers. He started folding said sneakers in his student days to comfort his inability to buy the real thing. Apparently he’s been folding paper since he was 4 years old and has managed to fuse origami and urban culture, crafting each new toy with precision through trial and error much like an engineer.

He relishes getting other people involved and that’s why he has a range of templates on his site for his various paper toys encouraging people to create and share! Through his worldwide exhibitions and global success he’s been able to collaborate with some of the biggest names of the creative world like Jon Burgerman, David Horvath and Skwak for his “Hoophy” toy which you can download for free.

You should all go over to the Shin Tanaka site today and marvel at just exactly what can be done with a few pieces of paper. Go create!

POSTED BY Mike