Mar 21, 2009

Tastemakers: Cleveland woman folds works of origami art for jewelry, moreBy Sarah CrumpCleveland.com

Her fingers fly over a square of paper no bigger than an inch and a half. In about 30 seconds at her dining room table, Ginger Wankewycz has folded a delicate crane the size of a quarter.

She folds while watching television in her home in Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood or while sitting in a doctor’s waiting room — anywhere her hands are idle. The Japanese art of origami has captivated Wankewycz (pronounced Vonk-e-vich) since she was 8.

That’s when her aunt gave her a book about the art of folding colorful paper into animals and other shapes. Soon, she began fashioning her homework into moths at St. Mary Byzantine Elementary School.

Now the craft makes money for Wankewycz, 30, who began making jewelry out of her origami about three years ago. “I wanted to make things people could actually use instead of having them sit in a china closet,” she says.

She sells crane earrings for $18 to $42, depending on whether they are made of paper that she then lacquers for durability or of paper-thin silver. She also makes crane pendants, kimono earrings and pendants, and other origami shapes, such as fish and flowers. She also frames cranes and kimonos, selling her line of Ginger Folds & Fine Arts at Gingerfolds.com.

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