Um, is it okay that I think that none of these napkin animals look like their animal inspirations? (The Bear is definitely a stretch).

Ummm....uhhh...HUH ???

Is it just me, or do these look like wadded up napkins that "sort of" look like "animals"...??

Chris, no it isn't just you. I would be really proud of my nephew if he came up with these "sort of animals". But then again, he's 2.

People, must everything be so obvious? Let's use a little imagination here...

It's not exactly in the spirit of origami (or practicality) if you have to sew them. How are you supposed to unfold and use them? There are fancy napkin folding techniques out there (lots of hotel restaurants indulge in that sort of thing) that don't require sewing. I'd be more interested in seeing some of those.

If the bear were called a rhino instead I might not think this product is as ridiculous as I think it is.

I'd much rather own the neon green chair crutch.

No, I think you have the wrong idea. The instructions for folding the shapes are stitched onto the napkins. You don't have to sew the napkins. The stitching tells you how to fold it and adds an extra nip of color to the final form.

The shapes are pretty traditional origami for the animals so... for anyone who doesn't get the shapes: blame origami, not the designer?

True, the shapes are pretty traditional for oragami. I think where this gets lost for me is in the translation through the materials. As starched as this fabric is for me it doesn't have the magic of paper oragami, but I'm certainly no expert on the subject. I just think it comes off looking silly, and a napkin that needs a button to stay in place...well, I don't even know how to end that sentence.

Haven't snooty restaurants been folding napkins into swans for ages without buttons? Or did I just see this on tv?

Again, no expert though. All of my knowledge of oragami comes from 4th grade art class and oragami.com, which has COOL folded paper dinosaurs that actually look like dinosaurs.

duh. I meant http://www.origami.com/

See how NOT an expert I am? :p

If it inspires people to use cloth napkins instead of paper, I am all for it.

Having once, in a fit of obsessive domesticity, read an entire book on napkin origami, I'm surprised... oh, at everything involved in marketing decorative napkin folding with the quaint family story and the $50 price tag.

If you want to try it yourself, there are tons of cheap napkin-folding books on Amazon.com, as well as one on towel origami.

I know bartenders who have been doing bar-towel "origami" creations for years.

Of course, not so much appropriate for the Thanksgiving table...!

Hehe. My family's been folding and rolling our own napkin bunnies for decades! And ours look more like bunnies, I reckon.

Many origami designs can be done with napkins (get an origami book or look at a website and play around -- it gives you a different selection than sticking with napkin folding books) and a bit of starch-- the more folds, though, the more difficult to retain the look as the fabric is too wadded -- we folded 125 napkins into samurai hats for our wedding reception (although I talked my husband out of sewing them, based on the comment above, that it loses the function and charm of also being a napkin once it's sewn together). (Plus, a little folding and starch is a tiny fraction of that $50 price tag.) -- Directions at a number of places, including: (http://www.lisashea.com/japan/origami/dirs/helmet/)