So, I’ve been a fan of Coudal Partners for quite some time now- circling back to their site every time I dig through my bookmarks and then spending a day browsing through all the content and links they have.

I recently learned from my friend Jeff Rutzky (happy birthday Jeff, by the way) that they’re not just a wonderful site, but this powerful and brilliant ad agency in Chicago. Oops. I suppose I should have figured that one out more quickly, especially when they were so nice to link to me way back in 2005. Live and learn, right?

Well, Coudal had people sending in things to them all the time, unsolicited. You know how much fun it is to get packages you aren’t expecting, don’t you? It’s kind of like a grown-up version of Christmas, but without any family awkwardness or having to buy gifts for kids. It’s a tiny little moment of self-gratification as you tear into the Fedex box and wonder what sort of goodies are inside.

They decided to expand on this, and started swapping out items sent to them with other items sent to them- so they got to have their pseudo-Christmas fun, and then spread the joy with others too. I like this idea a lot, enough so that I will be sending something in to them shortly, once I figure out what it is that I should be sending in. (Here’s a hint: it’s most likely made of paper. Guesses, anyone?)

But then I was further enlightened to know that some of my origami friends have already been doing this- see nifty items from Jeff and Vanessa Gould (of Green Fuse Films fame, home of the Exploring Origami documentary project):

Crown Hall Kirigami, from Jeff Rutzky

Color Wheel Kusudama, from Vanessa Gould

Also, the folks at Coudal are behind Jewelboxing.com, a really slick method for making jewelboxed CD/DVD cases and inserts/labels/etc. I saw that Jeff and Vanessa had connected together to make some cases for her “Exploring Origami” demo, using none other than Joel Cooper’s mask images for the cover!

It’s just an odd thing how different people and places you know seem to connect together in unexpected ways. I’m always surprised when I find things like this- “I know that person- and that person! they’re both here on this site! who knew?”

I’m hoping some of you other creators out there send something in to Coudal Partners as well; I’d love to see them swamped with fantastic paper artwork all at once.

-Eric