Meenakshi Mukerji

"Meenakshi Mukerji's work is both intricate and lovely. She's greatly respected in the origami world, one of the well-known world leaders in modular origami. Her books offer a nice exposition of the mathematical elements, but you're not being hit over the head with math lessons. You learn things without even realizing that you have." - Dr. Robert Lang in an interview published by San Jose Mercury News. "Meenakshi Mukerji is one of today's masters of modular origami, designs comprised of multiple pieces of paper. She also brings her ingenuity and creativity to designs made from a single piece of paper. Among the most appealing aspects of her single sheet work is the way she subtly manipulates a purely geometric form to fold a flower, a leaf, a butterfly, or card suits." - Peter Engel in a foreword for Wondrous One Sheet Origami. Meenakshi Mukerji (Adhikari) was introduced to origami in early childhood by her uncle Bireshwar Mukhopadhyay. She rediscovered origami in its modular form as an adult quite by chance in 1995, when a friend took her to a modular origami class taught by Doug Philips. This newfound mathematical and structural side of modular origami rekindled her passion for the art, and soon after, she started designing and displaying origami on her popular website origamee.net. The website features colorful photo galleries and links to myriad of free diagrams and has about a million and a half hits to date. In 2005, Origami USA presented her with the Florence Temko award for generously sharing her work on her website. In April 2007, her first book Marvelous Modular Origami was published followed in quick succession by four more books, Ornamental Origami, Origami Inspirations, Exquisite Modular Origami, and Wondrous One Sheet Origami. She has been a featured artist and a special guest at various origami conventions both in the USA and abroad. Although known for modular designs, she has recently changed her focus to single sheet designs. These too quickly rose in popularity just like her modular designs. Meenakshi regularly contributes to various origami periodicals and exhibits her work at conventions. She is a member of Origami USA and British Origami Society and an editor for the former's online magazine The Fold. People who have provided her with much origami encouragement and inspiration are David Petty, Rosalinda Sanchez, Robert Lang, Francis Ow, Rona Gurkewitz, Ravi Apte, Rachel Katz, and the numerous visitors of her website. Born and raised in Kolkata, India, Meenakshi obtained her BS in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a MS in computer science from Portland State University, Oregon. She then joined the software industry and worked for more than a decade. She is now at home in California devoting her time to family, designing origami, authoring origami books and, of course, spreading the joy of origami.