This is my first in a series of posts on Origami design and folding. Well, for starters, Ori means “folding” and kami means “paper”, hence Origami – Paper folding. Cutting and gluing is generally not used; if you have to cut, it is kirigami (kiri = cutting).
Before you start anything in Origami, you have to understand two of the most basic questions – How? Why?
The answer to how to fold a design can be easily answered if you know the basic folds, bases and have access to the instructions (just type “How to fold Origami *****” in Youtube and you are almost sure to find it) but the answer to why a particular design is folded that particular way is much more complex. There are thousands of published folding sequences in books and magazines but these step-by-step folding sequences more often than not do not communicate how the model was designed. “How to fold” is rarely “How to design”. Usually the folding sequences are optimized for the ease of folding and in some cases, to even obscure the underlying design so that the finished structure comes as a surprise. So, once again the perennial question – How to come up with an origami design for the design in your mind? Most designers have traditionally designed by ‘feel’, the experience they gain from playing around with paper for years. But, the art of Origami is not entirely an obscure art. It can indeed be pursued in a systematic fashion. There are simple, geometric techniques on how to go about developing the desired sculpture.
In the series of posts that follow, I shall try to explore both the areas. I shall explain the basic folds and bases, move on to standard designs all the while trying to answer why the folds are made in a certain way. In some cases, I shall focus on the mathematical connections and try to provide mathematical derivations of concepts. But in most cases, I shall refrain from formal mathematical proofs. This would help in establishing a scientific link while staying in the domain of art and not straying too much into the area of science.
Aravind Maddireddy is a PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad and a member of Finesse.
Picture courtesy: toysperiod.com
In the series of posts that follow, I shall try to explore both the areas. I shall explain the basic folds and bases, move on to standard designs all the while trying to answer why the folds are made in a certain way. In some cases, I shall focus on the mathematical connections and try to provide mathematical derivations of concepts. But in most cases, I shall refrain from formal mathematical proofs. This would help in establishing a scientific link while staying in the domain of art and not straying too much into the area of science.
Aravind Maddireddy is a PGP student at IIM Ahmedabad and a member of Finesse.
Picture courtesy: toysperiod.com