I've enjoyed origami since my childhood in Omaha, Nebraska. When I first started doing origami, there were fewer than five origami books that were easily available in English. All diagrams were done by hand, there was no email, no Internet. I was lucky to have lived in New York City in the 1970s, and was a frequent visitor at the Origami Center of America, which was also the home of Lillian Oppenheimer, the woman who did more than anyone to promote the art of origami throughout the world.

Nowadays, there are hundreds of books in English, all easily available, and thanks to the Internet, origamists from all over the world can stay in touch with one another. I have origami friends in Japan, Brazil, Germany, Israel, Great Britain, France, and the Netherlands, to name just a few places.

Over the years I've conducted many origami workshops in camps, schools, museums, community centers, and libraries. These days, I coordinate a monthly origami club that meets at the Roxbury Park Recreation Center in Beverly Hills, the fourth Sunday of every month, from 1-4 PM. For more information, you can go to the website of Origami-USA (www.origami-usa.org), and then to Resources > Find an Origami Group > Local and International Origami Groups > POP (Pacific Ocean Paperfolders.

Also, please visit me on my website www.joeldstern.com!