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“The eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.” Margaret Atwood
LOVE, positive, front
LOVE, negative, back [it's still beautiful, eh?]
LOVE – how you get there: the roadmap, the crease pattern, the glorious, confusing labyrinth
Origami Tessellations by Carlos Natan Lopez
blog here
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Look twice at these insects. They look real, but they aren’t. They are paper. Folded paper to be exact. Paper folded from one sheet of paper if you want all the facts. No cuts. None. Robert J. Lang is one of the foremost origami artists in the world with a portfolio that boasts much more than insects. It will amaze and delight you. More Lang right here.
Goliath Beetle, paper
Water Strider, paper
Praying Mantis, paper
Don’t miss Lang’s Ted Talk, Idea + Square = Origami.
Can’t get enough? Everything in this Mitsubishi commercial is paper except the car. Lang folded the dragon and had help with the rest of the origami set that included hundreds of folded trees. Must have been a folding frenzy. A team of modelers animated the figures, bringing his dragon to life. Wonderful stuff.
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I’ve been folding paper since I was 9 years old. Miss Heimer, my fourth grade teacher, taught us how to fold a cup. I was hooked. My early fascination with Origami has fueled my appreciation of the paper arts for decades and Paul Jackson is a perennial favorite.
Jackson is one of the premier origami artists in the world today. Equally drawn to the way that he hand colors each sheet of paper and to the pleated folds that become organic abstract sculptures, in 2006 I wrote about one of his vessels on The Empty Vessel (plicated).
One sheet of paper, hand colored, folded
Inspiration for the pieces comes from organic forms such as bacteria, seed heads and shells. Controversially for many origami purists, the paper is coloured with charcoal or dry pastel and sealed to create a surface with a matt lustre. I do this because the simple truth is that for me, untreated paper doesn’t have the ‘presence’ of paper customised with pastel. This customisation of the surface somehow changes a model or a craft object into an art object.
Watch Jackson fold a flexible form in this video.
Origami is also responsible for the beginnings of my art-research-mania. As a teenager, before the internet, before online videos, before there were organized groups, I started to gather what eventually became a collection of more than fifty books on the subject as I searched for instructions and information about this ancient art.
Thank you, Miss Heimer.
Did you have a teacher that unknowingly set you on a creative path? Would you like to thank them? Do it right here. In the comments section.
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Mabona Origami created the origami for this award winning video that tells the story of Japanese sports brand ASICS. Who knew that a chance encounter with a piece of octopus would change the way sneakers were made? Watch this one all the way through – perfect message for a new year.
Origami In the Pursuit of Perfection from MABONA ORIGAMI on Vimeo.
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As a one-time flip book collector (don’t ask…) I still get goose bumps when I see an interesting flip book and Matt Shlian, a paper engineer whose work is mind boggling and meticulous, has created one sweet little flip book. Dazzling. Delightful. Don’t take my word for it though, watch the book in action in this 9 second video.
Shlian has several short video clips on his website like the one below, each one giving you a quick look at his creations in action.
You can find the rest of the paper engineering videos here – they are sure to make you ask the question “How did he do that?”