These photos were taken at the British Origami Society spring convention 2000 meeting. This was my first BOS conference and I had a jolly good weekend. As well as being given the chance to display some of my work and to give a teaching session, I met several origami notables, including Robert Lang, who is taller than I expected, David Brill, who is wider than I expected and Eric Joisel, who is crazier than I expected. (Apologies to all three concerned )

Eric Joisel

Ever since I saw some of Eric Joisel's work on the web, he has been one of my favourite designers. As well as being able to turn a square of paper into a 'grotesque' face with only a few folds, some of his complex designs make the likes of Kawahata's dinosaurs look like kindergarten. Not only that, the texture that he achieves is amazing, and most of his models look like they have been carved from stone. In person, he was friendly, a superb lecturer and ...erm... delightfully eccentric.

Robert Lang

Robert Lang is the author of several origami books and is capable of incredibly complex origami designs. 'Origami insects and their kin' is possibly the best complex level book there is. Several of his insect designs were on display at the conference and he promises that published work, possibly including some more insects will be in the pipeline in roughly two years. He taught his Koi carp design, a lovely 3D fish with a nice shape. A version with scales can be seen below.

There were many other works on display at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, the location of the conference, from artists of all levels and styles. The largest piece was a ten-foot high arch designed by Maarten van Gelder, who also designed the garden scene to the right. I received a lot of comments about my work, most of which were praise. It was also pleasing to meet several folders on the Origami e-mailing list; most of whom I knew by name only. I also wish that I had a penny for every time someone told me 'ooh, you're younger than I expected'. It must be my youthful looks.