Posted on January 1, 2020
Cristian Marianciuc is a Romanian artist. His favorite medium is paper - you know, folding paper, cutting paper, manipulating paper.
Marianciuc was living and studying in Australia when he decided to learn more about Japanese culture and to give a lecture about the Japanese paper-folding art of origami. He told the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who folded paper cranes while battling cancer. Ancient folklore says that, if you fold 1,000 cranes, your wish will come true, but Sasaki had only folded about 600 cranes when she lost her battle with cancer.
Marianciuc told the lecture attendees that he related to this story partly because his own sister had died of cancer, and partly because he himself feels a kind of inner peace while folding paper cranes.
After he returned to Romania, Marianciuc struggled with depression. Trying to find meaning in life and to establish healthy psychological habits in his daily routine, Marianciuc made a New Year's Resolution to make a paper crane every day for 1,000 days.
On this date in 2015, Marianciuc folded his first resolution crane. He shared it to the world with his Instagram feed (his Instagram name is icarus.mid.air). The next day, he folded and shared another one. The next day, another one. And on and on. Some of the cranes are relatively simple - many are astonishingly complex and lovely. Not only does Marianciuc decorate some cranes with beautiful cut paper wings, he decorates some of his paper cranes with flowers and leaves!
By the way, Marianciuc is still going strong on the decorative crane project. I have a feeling he is not folding and posting every day, these days, but he makes new designs frequently. He must've passed 1,000 cranes a few years ago and is probably getting close to 2,000 now!
Check out this story about how his crane origami project has helped Marianciuc with his depression - and has helped other people as well!
Here is a link to Marianciuc's first simple crane and somewhat out-of-focus photo.
Compare that to some of these beautiful creations:
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