Thursdays Downtown vendor: Origami by Kannika

(ABC 6 News) – Each Thursday this summer ABC 6 News is highlighting a different vendor at Rochester’s Thursdays Downtown. This week we’re introducing you to Origami by Kannika, a first time vendor at the event.

"I actually started making this origami last October," said Kannika Brueske.

During the pandemic she said she learned how to transform her origami into earrings, ornaments and jewelry.

She grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, and as a child she learned how to make origami. "In the third world country, for me, paper is the cheapest toy we have. So, friends would get together and fold the paper like a boat, cranes, butterflies and stuff," she said.

So, during the pandemic she took her pastime to a new level, learning to making origami into jewelry.

"These earrings, each of them are made from paper, 3.8 square centimeter, and take about three minutes to make. I put them into jewelry and I brush them with resin," Kannika explained.

Most of the jewelry Kannika makes are cranes, "the crane usually represents love, longevity, harmony and peace."

She makes each piece by hand saying, "It can be tedious… Practice makes perfect. It took me at least 50 to 60 of them before I could make it into the perfect one."

She started by selling her jewelry at the hospital she works at in Minneapolis, then she started her own business that she runs out of Hudson, Wisconsin.

She now comes to Thursdays Downtown almost every week. As a first time vendor she says it has been very successful so far, "People here are very nice. Everyone is so kind and friendly."