ORIGAMI BLOG

The 2nd edition of Robert Lang’s Origami Design Secrets is here! I have been a long time fan of his and his work is vastly different from mine, but despite the differences, I am in complete agreement with the questions and thoughts expressed in his book. Below are few favorites quotes from the book I found helpful when pursuing the world of origami design.

Origami as an art form: “Origami is, first and foremost, an art form, an expression of creativity, and it is the nature of creativity that it cannot be taught directly. It can, however, be developed through example and practice.”

Origami can be approached in a very analytical and logic way: “Origami design can indeed be pursued in a systematic fashion.”

Questions to ask when you are designing origami: “Does it flow naturally? Is the revelation of the finished form predictable or surprising? Does the use of folded edges contribute or detract from the appearance?”

Subsequent chapters teach the reader basic folds as well as more advanced folds that can transform a simple sheet of paper into a lizard, frog, pegasus, and a few furry eight legged insects. This book is perfect for math geeks who aim to apply their math in a very creative way.

Romina Goransky, an origami teacher based in Buenos Aires, Argentina created this beautiful origami tessellation dress to wear for her brother’s wedding. A ten day project, the dress was built using two pleated pieces and hand sewn using taffeta, which is a crisp, smooth plain woven fabric made from silk or synthetic fibers, which is also used to line clothing. Prior to sewing the pieces together, they created a treatment for the fabric by mixing glue and water so that the pleat would remain in its shape while the fabric was hand folded.

What a beautiful dress!

By taking a digital version of his origami typeface, Chris Berthe created a new set of letters in 3D using paper and an x-acto knife.

Yoba Yabo, a Visual Communication Design student at Rangsit University created an awesome origami typeface. It comes in four different styles: normal, divide, stroke and shade. The application you see in the image above is an example of the style, shade.

If your love for origami is truly genuine and want to learn about the history, math, creativity and understand its real world applications – this is the book you’ll want in your library. Origami 5 covers 4 sections in the following manner:

1. Origami History, Art and Design
2. Origami in Education
3. Origami in Science, Engineering, and Technology
4. Mathematics of Origami

Each section has about 10-15 articles about origami theories, mathematics, experimentation, and application. The articles reveal the juiciest origami secrets you won’t find in mainstream magazines or books. If you are a nerd, you will like it. Trust me.

Okay, it’s not origami, but it’s definitely filed under paper engineering. A graduate of the School of Applied Arts Duperré (Paris) in textile design, Mathilde Nivet creates dreamy and whimsical paper structures for retailers. If she dressed every window for every retailer in the world, I’d want to enter every store! Look at the intricate detail and handmade work! Amazing!

Inspired by origami’s three-dimensional frame, Lianna Sheppard created Modu_gram – a series of 3D wearable structures, named Octa, Tetra, Edra and Poly. A recent graduate in Fashion at Kingston University, Lianna created a fashionable sculptures, allowing the fashionista to wear it at different positions on the body. Constructed with elements such as light, movement, structure and color Modu_gram is quite a lovely piece to sport at a nice dinner party.

Chinese New Year just passed and it’s the year of the rabbit, but I can’t help make a post about last year’s auspicious animal – the beautiful, bold, and powerful tiger.

It was on display at the Customs House in Sydney, Australia last year for Chinese New Year. The tigers combine ancient lantern making methods with
 digital design and fabrication technology, bringing east and 
west together through tradition and innovation. The big cats are a collaboration between multinational architectural 
practice Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA) and Customs House to mark the year of the tiger and raise awareness about the 
endangered status of tigers. The tigers are at 8.5 feet (2.5 metres) high and 23 feet(7 metres) long and weighs approximately 440 pounds and use fully recyclable materials, aluminium and
 barrisol, a new light weight reusable stretch material. Pulsating low energy
 LED lighting brings the sculptures to life.

It’s so grand and beautiful, would have loved to see it in person.

I normally make a quick attempt to fly (okay, speed walk) by Herald Square Macy’s on my way to karate every night because it’s just so busy around that area. But what gave me pause last Thursday was Macy’s beautiful window display featuring a collaboration between Pratt and international designer Ralph Pucci. Pratt Institute’s School of Art and Design worked exclusively in paper to dress Pucci’s Spring 2011 “GIRL2″ mannequins. They are so beautiful; the featured ones are my favorite. If you live in NYC, you must walk by, your jaw will drop…well at least mine did. =)

If you love origami as much as I do, wouldn’t it be nice to be gifted with these nice trinkets on December 25th? West Elm currently stocks a wide variety of origami-inspired accessories: Piggy Banks, Ornaments, Pillows and even an origami set! Fun! Fun! Fun!