Origami Roses

Last week was a very busy one for Jason Ma, a junior at Tabor.

Ma sold one hundred homemade origami roses to raise money for an upcoming service trip to Vietnam – and he was all sold out of his paper roses just ten minutes after the start of the sale. In fact, they were almost all sold out even before the sale, as most of them had already been reserved to prospective buyers.

This rapid sale can be attributed not only to the sheer beauty and unique quality of the origami roses that Ma made but also to his impressive advertising.

According to Ma, “Origami, in Japanese cultures, always expresses the most genuine feelings.” He informed Tabor students that these roses not only represent these feelings, but also last forever – unlike real roses.

There is much history that lies behind this origami tradition. Ma gave an example of when, during World War II, people folded thousands of origami cranes asking for peace.

“Origami roses express people’s sincere and pure love for others,” said Ma. “And, since paper never blights, the flowers send out beautiful wishes that love will last forever.”

Ma raffled off the final four roses, which were highly sought after, the day after in order to raise additional money for the Vietnam Trip.

The roses were sold in three colors: Red, pink, and blue.

“Red represents passion and love between a couple. Pink represents one’s admiration and appreciation, and blue represents honesty and friendship,” said Ma, who created this variety so that people could get roses to express multiple affections.

Origami has been a hobby of Ma’s for a long time, folding his first origami rose in eighth grade.

“When I learned the advanced version of the origami rose, which is the version that I am selling,” said Ma, “and saw that there was not any form of rose sales going on last year, I decided to do something with roses on my own.”

This was easier said than done.

The process of creating a single rose takes about 30 minutes, and Ma sold 100 of them. The rose itself is very complex, consisting of five different components: two leaves, a calyx, a stem, and a bud.

“The leaves and stems are the easy parts, and together take about five minutes,” said Ma. “The bud is the hardest and usually takes 15 minutes while the calyx takes 10 minutes.”

Although Ma made all of the buds and stems on his own, he had some friends and faculty members help to cut leaves and create half of the calyx.

The presentation of the roses was impressive and well worth the $5 price. Ma scented each rose so that they mimicked a real one and put them all in individual boxes.

This money is going towards one of the two Learning Through Service (LTS) trips that will happen this year.

Ma is attending the LTS Vietnam trip and has been helping with fundraising efforts. Although this sale was his first project, Ma said, “I am now thinking about designing and selling the International T-shirts this year to raise more money for the trip.” The money will go towards buying daily products to support families in need in Caibi, a village in Vietnam.

On the 10-day trip, Tabor students will be building a day house in the community, which will be used as a school or shelter. Additionally, the students will be teaching kids in the community how to speak English.

“I am looking forward to the building part of the trip, as creating things to enhance other’s lives is one of my biggest passions,” Ma said.

Ma’s origami roses raised over $500 for the trip to help improve the lives of citizens in Caibi.

By Julia O’Rourke

TABOR_Origami Roses

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