Episode Details

James Ojascastro is an origamist, papermaker, and botanist, with a Ph.D. in ethnobotany from Washington University in St. Louis in collaboration with the Missouri BotanicalGarden. Ojascastro employs a combination of methods – including fiber trait measurements, experimental papermaking, species distribution modeling, andsemistructured interviews – to explore the history, biogeography, and conservation of papermaking traditions (especially of Nepal and Vietnam) through a botanical lens. Outside of academia, Ojascastro uses his researchbackground to guide and inform what plants and which processes will yield paper suitable for origami art.