Sipho Mabona does beautiful things with paper. Not only does he have an awesome job title—Professional Origami Artist—he also has big plans for his hobby-turned-profession. Using a 2,500 sq. ft. sheet of paper, Mabona is looking to create a life-size origami pachyderm, cleverly known as the "White Elephant."

And he'll even record himself doing it, for those of you video-or-it-didn't-happen skeptics—two cameras will be streaming a live feed of the project in progress. The entire project will be completed in a room at the Art Museum in Beromünster, Switzerland with help from three assistants. The team will take on treacherous creases and potential for some major paper cuts to craft an elephant that stands over ten feet tall (with the help of a support structure and white acrylic sealant). Mabona explains:

The campaign is well on its way to success with 28 days to go as of press time. If watching four people construct a huge paper animal isn't enough incentive for you, the funder perks are reason enough to endorse the endeavor. Mabona is offering beautiful ceramic casts and mini shoji screens of flattened origami crease patterns, metallic bull origami and even a framed replica of the origami pattern he's attempting to create (yours will be much smaller than the original). Can you say best crowdfunding perks ever?

Maybe it's our love for quirky origami and paper folding techniques, but "White Elephant" is definitely the antithesis of the pejorative idiom for which it is named. Check out the project on Indiegogo.

Via Colossal