Origami Heaven

A paperfolding paradise

The website of writer and paperfolding designer David Mitchell

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The Star of David from an Equilateral Triangle
 
This page attempts to record what is known about the origin and history of the Star of David folded from an equilateral triangle. Please contact me if you know any of this information is incorrect or if you have any other information that should be added. Thank you.

There are several versions of this design. In one version the internal layers are interwoven, in others they are squashed. The basic structure of the design is, however, the same in all cases.

The equilateral triangle that the design begins from can be profuced by cutting or by being folded up from a square or rectangle

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1882

As far as I know this design first appears in the historical record, in the interwoven form, in part two of 'The Kindergarten Guide' by Maria Kraus Boelte and John Kraus, which was probably first published by E. Steiger and Company in New York in 1882.

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1892

In the version that apperas in 'Le Travail Manuel a L'ecole Primaire' by Jully & Rocheron, which was published by Librairie Classique Eugene Belin in Paris in 1892, the internal flaps are squashed for decorative effect and are consequently not interwoven.

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1895

A version of the design where the internal flaps are squashed to avoid the interweaving, although not in a particularly decorative way, appears in 'Geometrie, Dessin et Travaux Manuels - Cours Moyen', produced under the direction of M E. Cazes, which was published by Librairie Ch. Delagrave in Paris in 1895. The right hand picture shows a craft project where several of these designs have been nested together.

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1940

Both the interwoven and the squashed and not interwoven versions appear in 'El Plegado y Cartonaje en la Escuela Primaria' by Antonio M Luchia and Corina Luciani de Luchia, which was published by Editorial Kapelusz in Buenos Aires in 1940.

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