Origami history and chopstick rests? Gerardo,
What an interesting topic! While I can't provide the full answers that dear David Lister would have done, I grew up in Japan in the 60s. People often just knotted their paper wrappers to make a simple chopstick rest then. I don't, however, recall people specifically folding them from irogami, but definitely do remember people making simple models using the wrappers. In Japan you can buy beautiful chopstick rests in all manner of materials - and wrapped paper thread (can't remember the proper name) is very popular and cheap. They have become less common in restaurants because people steal them, and, even more sadly, many Japanese children no longer know how to use chopsticks. Also the use of chopstick rests at home is less common, much like butter knives in the West! One of my favourite origami memories is Saburo Kase at a NOA convention, teaching me a beautiful boat chopstick rest from a wrapper. He was such a great teacher that I totally forgot that he was blind and speaking only Japanese. Hope this is of interest. Clare
