IWAKI Roy Tokuhichi (1935 - 2010)

Born in Los Angeles, CA

Medium: Folded paper

Roy was born in Los Angeles during the height of the Depression to first generation immigrant parents from Japan. Just before his 6th birthday, war broke out with Japan. He, along with his mother and older siblings, was told that they had one week to make arrangements to relocate to  Manzanar Relocation Camp, in the middle of the California desert. This camp was one of several camps housing over 100,000 Japanese, most of which were American citizens.

When the war ended, his family moved to Salt Lake City briefly, but eventually moved back to Los Angeles. After graduating from high school, Roy enlisted in the Air Force where his duties included arial reconnaissance photography.

In 1961, Roy enrolled in UC Berkeley to study architecture. Diploma in hand, he went to Japan for a year before starting his architectural career. There he came to appreciate the traditional Japanese arts, especially wood block printing and origami.

He returned to the United States to start his professional career in architecture. After a couple of years in practice, he realized that he was too much of a right-brained individual to meet the deadlines and schedules that are essential to a practicing architect. This is where his path to self-discovery begins: he discovered that the act of building and working with his hands was more to his calling.  He began experimenting with round folded, single-sheet paper forms.

He bought shares in a housing cooperative in Richmond, California. The housing development, originally built to house shipyard workers during WWII, was converted into low-cost housing.  This became his sanctuary; a place where he could practice art through designing rock gardens, fish ponds, simple but elegant protective shelters over decks and, of course, making masks and eventually writing his book, The Mask Unfolds.

He blazed a new trail. Roy hoped someone would read his book, branch off from his path, and discover something completely unique, as he did.

    Excerpts from an article by Michio Valian, Roy's nephew.