The Tail of a Tiny Lobster

First impressions are key, and our covers, like a nice shirt on an eligible bachelor, entice our readers to stay and mingle with the articles within. This issue’s cover artist is a friend of mine who showed me his art “way back” in middle school when everybody still had flip phones and MySpace.

Nick Lafluer has been folding single uncut sheets of paper into origami since he was 4, when I was doing little more than playing with dirt. He showed me the first pattern he ever folded, a paper cup, which successfully quenched my immense thirst for paper flavored water. The most important fold he showed me is the one featured on our cover. Go ahead, flip back to take a gander at that puppy, er, lobster.

After seeing this adorable little paper crustacean, sorry creation, I knew what we had to do. Motif intern Jeune Plosson and I set out to make tiny lemons and little lettuce to go with our shellfish, which measures in at 3 inches long (don’t worry, we made plenty of “size doesn’t matter” jokes). The next day we got together with Nick to plate our creations and snap the final photos. Before leaving, Nick folded one final piece for us, a badass fighter jet paper airplane, which we promptly threw off a bridge. On a clear day that plane flies incredible distances, but it was windy… so it didn’t.

To see more of Nick Lafleur’s work, visit his Instagram @origamifreak64