The Japanese Tradition

Here's a parody introduction in the the ancient art of origami.

Unfolding Origami

This is a video of some paper folded and cut with the intention of being unfolded through what is called capillary action. As the water is absorbed by the paper, it is sucked up the capillaries (small tubes) in the sheet. This action is a bit like inflating a balloon which straightens the capillaries, forcing the paper to unfold. 

Flottille (detail) from Etienne Cliquet on Vimeo.

It's a unique idea in the origami world. Gives a new meaning to wet-folding!

Self-folding Paper!

A video, made by the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, was brought to my attention. It shows a sheet of circuitry that has pre-made creases/hinges build into it and magnets so that once a fold has been made, it will stay in place. The sheet seems to be designed to take advantage of the windmill base that became so popular in Europe. The base is highly versatile, used to make animals, vehicles and toys including the famous Pajarita. You can read more at Make: Online and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) site.This particular sheet is programed to fold into a boat and an airplane, which shows that programed digi-gami is a real possibility in the future. 

I have a copy of the article and it is very exciting! It refers to an earlier paper where they discovered a universal crease pattern. I must admit I am in a bit over my head at the moment, so I will leave this post as an introduction to the idea and then write a few posts later when it all makes more sense to me!

The video, for your consideration:

I downloaded the video from the PNAS website.

I do not believe there is any audio, so if you don't hear anything, you're not necessarily deaf.

Origametria

I have been thinking a lot about origami combined with teaching mathematics. I applied for a Minnesota Math Corps job and have a minor hope that there will be some way to incorporate origami into their pre-constructed curriculum. This line of thought brought me back to Between the Folds, which is a documentary about origami and shows a spectrum of folders. One folder in particular is Miri Golan.

Miri is the Director of the Israeli Origami Center (the English version of the site seems a bit unpolished) and runs a program called Origametria (this will show you a neat video summarizing the impact of origametria in Jerusalem). The program is the newest generation of programs developed at the IOC in the area of education through origami. The basic set up is to introduce elementary school students to geometry through the use of origami. The idea is that by allowing the students to manipulate the planes on the paper they get a fuller understanding of the angles, shapes and possibilities.

One article I read mentioned Origametria being used in Jewish schools in Los Angeles. I would really like to connect with someone regarding the program and see what can be done in Minnesota.

From Flapping Birds to Space Telescopes

I attended a lecture hosted by the University of Minnesota Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). The speaker was Robert Lang, renowned origami master.

He talked about the basic principles of origami design from the perspective of crease patterns. He identified four rules:

1) Two-colorability. The open spaces in a pattern can be colored in using two colors and no two adjacent spaces will be the same color.

2) M-V=+/-2 At any given vertex the number of mountain folds will be exactly two more or two less than the number of valley folds.

3) Around each vertex, alternate angles will sum to a straight line.

4) No self intersections of the paper.

For more, watch one of the videos provided by TED or the IMA (for the IMA find the Videos section and click on IMA Math Matters Public Lectures).

He also talked on the modern uses of origami technique and its applications in space, cars, medicine and science. He also answered questions and signed autographs.

I asked him if he thought there was a philosophy of origami. He said that if I asked a hundred folders that question I'd get as many different answers. That every folder has their own philosophy. Lang seems to be a technician at heart. He works out the techniques and the mechanisms so that others can do the art.

The lecture was a chance to expand my origami horizons. Origami Minnesota did some recruiting, so the next meeting might be a bit more energized. I also met Eric Gjerde, author of Origami Tessellations (he is a member of Origami Minnesota, but was not there at my first meeting).

Between The Folds

I recently watched a video on the topic of origami that was produced by Independent Lens titled Between The Folds (now, to be fair, when I say recently I mean some weeks after its air-date... but whatever). The exciting part about the video is that it gives a quick introduction to the wide variety of artists out there using origami. They each have a unique interpretation as to the importance of the art form and they express themselves in radically different ways. There are the rule-makers and the rule-breakers. There are scientists, teachers, rebels, sculptors, ad infinitum. Okay, so there are a finite number of folders in the world, but this video tries to shed light on all of them!

The video also shows how origami is coming into the 21st century with amazingly practical applications in mathematical theory, space travel, medicine and other fields. Origami is on the cutting edge of technology.

If you look around the room or out of the window and list how many things fold, the obvious thing: this sweater, my shirt, my collar is folded, the skin here on my eye. If I talk to you on to the camera then the air is folding going into your ear. Even the galaxies, sort of wheeling around and folding itself over eons as it goes around. That [a crumpled sheet of paper] looks like mountains and valleys for the reason mountains and valleys go through the same process. Even DNA is folded. You and I are born from folding!
-Paul Jackson

To study origami is to study the universe. Or maybe that's too grand, but the point is that there are many applications to the study of folding, and some are explored in the video. See, it all comes down to the simple fact that "Origami is a metamorphic artform," says Michael LaFosse. Nothing added, nothing subtracted, all accounted for.

And so, I recommend the video to anyone who is even vaguely interested in origami, and especially to people looking for a place to start!

[The image is the cover of the DVD case which I found on the OrigamiUSA website]