My name is Elisabetta Bonuccelli, but some friends call me Unoko. I was born in Turin, Piedmont, although I consider Le Marche my adoptive Italian region. I’ve been living in Milan since 2004.
I didn’t have my road to Damascus moment with origami when I was a child. Origami made a late and unexpected appearance in my life, thanks to a lucky confluence of events: some forced career changes, my studies as a designer, lots of trips to Japan and... a documentary on Nick Cave.
I studied with Luisa Canovi, who guided me like a good sensei through my first steps with mountains, valleys, reverse folds and rabbit ears. In the end, I took the decision to devote myself professionally to the art of origami and paper design.
In 2014 I opened @unokostudio, a creative space where I develop my paper projects for events, installations and displays, photo shoots, packaging and communication.
I find it extremely stimulating to design origamis and paper works tailored to my clients’ specific requests. It involves both a creative and a technical component. Looking for solutions, solving problems. Finding the right balance between abstraction and pragmatism.
When I focus on my personal artistic search, instead, origami fully turns into a means of expression. Writing WITH – and not only on – the paper allows me to tell about myself through the wordless language of sequencing folds and their fascinating combinations based on mathematical patterns.
