I went to Boston, MA two weeks ago to visit some friends and on my way to the bus station back to New York, I stopped by the MIT Museum to check out what inventive exhibits and ideas were on display. After being awe-struck by Arthur Ganson’s Gestural Engineering exhibit, I wandered to the Toy Product Design section and saw Sho Mi Origami. It is a toy that projects origami instructions onto origami paper. You begin by selecting a project disk, and the disk rotates inside the toy, which advances to the next instruction stop. What a great way to recreate a new toy(Sho Mi Origami) with an classic “toy”(Origami)!

Toy Product Design
Toy Project Design is an MIT class created in 2005 by Barry Kudrowitz and Professor David Wallace. It is a hands-on, project-based introduction to product design processes and techniques with an emphasis on designing for play and entertainment.

Here we have an origami spoon by designer Michael Sholk which is bent from one piece of material comprised of paper, plastic, and silver foil.  

And lastly, check out out how origami lends some inspiration to Italian architects in creating this Automobile Museum in Nanjing, China.

p.s. Between the Folds Film is now on DVD. With the purchase of 4 or more DVDs, you’ll receive an original origami butterfly, handfolded by one of the film’s featured artists, Michael LaFosse. 

A shining star Giota Kaiopoulou from Thessaloniki, Greece did a spectacular job blending two very complicated arts together – origami and fashion. Started in 2004, Giota was a pioneer weaving these two concepts together. She created this project titled, “Origami Flowers”, which was also the perfect final project for her Fashion Degree at a local university in Greece. What a visionary Giota is because today we see origami fashion everywhere!

Upon her graduation, she applied and was accepted for the 13th Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and Mediterranean. It is sponsored by the International Assocation of the Biennial of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean(BJCEM). This organization is a network which gathers 71 members from 20 countries, locals, ministries, associations, cultural institutions, and is open to the membership of local and national bodies from Europe and the Mediterranean.

The mission of this organization is to promote the creativity of young artists, encourage international exchanges, and develop pacific relations across the Mediterranean. What a great accomplishment, Giota to be recognized with this wonderful organization!

During a recent holiday to Istanbul, Turkey (which is also one of the most popular places to explore these days), I discovered a striking similarity between origami and the beautiful mosques and palaces that I visited. The Blue Mosque, Topkapı Palace, and Rüstem Pasha Camii all had its own distinct beauty and character, but it is quite evident there is one element that binds them together – their geometric structures. And because origami is comprised of geometric shapes as well, we can relate Islamic art to origami.

Additionally, it cannot be coincidental that the beautiful geometry designed on these architectural gems somehow parallel origami tessellations. Similar to origami, architecture is also one of the few art forms that combine both subjects of math and art to construct the unimaginable. So it should be no surprise that we discover origami folding patterns in Islamic architecture.

One final element that makes me love Islamic architecture even more – the symbolism. The creators of the mosques and palaces had this one particular symbolism behind these endless geometric patterns – that they evoke the idea of limitless boundaries and express an enduring spiritual life. As these big and bold architectural gems created lasting legacies, I hope origami continues to flourish and grow into its own.

Photo above: Topkapı Palace

Photo above: Rüstem Pasha Camii

To learn more about origami tessellations and Islamic Design, go out and grab a copy of Eric Gjerde’s book, Origami Tessellations, while you’re at it, take a look at his blog.

Photo above: thiomor’s flickr

Photo above: by Christine Edison

Photo above: by Yoshi, who we featured in a previous post

Many thanks to Joe Keylon of BACE (Business and Creative Exchange) for sending me Simon Schubert’s jaw dropping portfolio.

What makes Mr. Schubert’s work exceptional is his ability to blend contrasting techniques (2d vs. 3d, negative vs. positive space, and valley vs. mountain folds) into objects, figures and people we can all relate to – all with a simple piece of paper.

Because paper’s very first fold quickly commits to memory, you can sense the experience, confidence, and patience Mr. Schubert has with each and every fold – and these traits inspire me deeply.

It’s been a little over a month since my move from San Francisco to New York and over the next couple of weeks and months to come, I’ll be creating posts of and about origami I discover in this bustling city I now call home.

I live near 5th Avenue and one fashion trend that reappears in each and every store are folded and sculptural dresses, skirts and tops. My small Asian eyes bulge when I first discover these beautiful pieces of clothing, because my mind is screaming, I WANT NOW!!!!!!! But upon closer inspection, my mind quickly adopts this new attitude – great concept, bad craftsmanship.

So I go from store to store feeling evermore disappointed with each origami inspired piece of clothing, until I came across this Max and Cleo origami dress I found at YAMAK! The details on this dress is folded neatly just like I would with a piece of paper and the color selection for this style is also vibrant and fun.

An added bonus to this story – after my relocation, I went from a size 6 to a size 2, so now I have a new figure, new city and a new dress.

When I was in Munich, Germany at the end of March I discovered the coolest origami inspired models from Denmark based company, Kvadrat. What I liked about it is that you can take a very simple shape – the pentagon and coupled with a couple of textured crease lines, you can manipulate this textile to form a very big and bold complex figure. Your final model can be as large or small as your imagination allows it to be!

Earlier this year in the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) together with the University of Tokyo and metal manufacturer Castem created nine origami space shuttles to launch into space! The 29-gram origami shuttle, which measures 38 centimeters long and 22 centimeter wide, are made from lightweight sugar cane fiber paper that has been chemically treated to resist heat and water. The prototype performed successfully, surviving through wind speeds of Mach 7 (8,600 kph) and temperatures of around 200 degrees celsius or 392 degrees fahrenheit.

At this time, plans will not go ahead to launch as measures to prevent the craft from colliding with satellites were insufficient.

John Galliano’s spring 2007 collection for Christian Dior was simply smashing and left a long lasting impression in my memory. The collection was chock full of vibrant colors, beautiful kimonos and origami. It was nice to see it finally influence and grace this year’s oscar fashionistas. We liked it most on Heidi Klum, Cameron Diaz, and Marisa Tomei. And a big congrats to the night’s biggest winner – Slumdog Millionaire. A tune in the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, M.I.A. Paper Planes has super kewl origami airplanes in its music video.

Many thanks to Anna Park, the Associate Managing Editor at Audrey Magazine for the awesome write-up of Girligami!