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Everyday origami is
paperfolding which serves a practical everyday
purpose and which forms part of the general
culture of a society as a whole rather than the
special culture of those who are particularly
interested in paperfolding as an art or craft.
Examples of everyday origami are wrapping
presents, weakening paper by folding so that it
can be torn apart, folding letters to insert them
in envelopes, or folding photocopied sheets into
booklets, party invitations etc. Functional
origami can become everyday origami if it is
disseminated sufficiently widely. Playground
folds can be considered to be everyday origami. |
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Ceremonial
origami is paperfolding carried out for
ceremonial or religious purposes. In Japan
ceremonial origami largely concerned the folding
of wrappers - called noshi or tsutsumi - for
gifts of flowers etc associated with particular
religious festivals throughout the year. In China
it is more associated with the folding of Yuan
Bao (gold nuggets) to be burned at funerals. This
category of origami is now largely of historical
interest and significance. In Europe baptismal
certificates were sometimes folded in a double
blintz. |
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Performance origami is
about using paperfolding to produce entertaining,
amusing, or sometimes magical, effects. There are
two different kinds of performance origami:
Performance origami in which the
effect lies in the folding process itself, either
purely in the almost magical emergence of the
design or in a surprise denouement at the end of the
folding sequence.
Performance origami in which the
effect is achieved by the manipulation of the
finished paperfold. Troublewit is a classic example
of this.
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Conceptual
origami is origami that is about the
communication of ideas and emotions. Unlike most
other categories of origami conceptual origami
may aim to offend rather than to please. The oldest form of
conceptual origami is probably Fold-Ups, which
are pictures that can be folded up into smaller
pictures. The Fifth Pig
Fold-Up was used as political propaganda
during the Second World War.
There is a
subset of conceptual origami that I call
origamidada. It uses the conventions of origami
design, diagramming, or culture, to make humorous
or satirical comments about (usually) origami
itself or (occasionally) wider issues.
NOFO or NO Fold Origami
is an extreme minimalist type of conceptual
origami which does away with the folding element
of origami entirely.
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Exploratory
origami is the hands-on trial-and-error
investigation of the possibilities inherent in
the paperfolding process. Exploratory origami is
not directly intended to lead to the discovery of
a reproducible or one-off design but frequently
does so (in an apparently serendipitious manner). Some paperfolders
use the word 'doodling' to refer to exploratory
origami, often in a slightly derogatory or
self-derogatory way.
One of my
favourite things is to play with a well known or
traditional design or configuration of folds and
try to find a clue to something new in it. The Adaptations page gives some
examples of designs I have discovered in this
way.
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Craft origami is
both the process of creating designs which are
intended by the designer to be reproducible, and
the process of reproducing them from personal or
recorded tuition, or from diagrams.
The reproduction part of craft
origami is not a sterile process. In reproducing,
or realising, the chosen design the folder often
seeks to personalise it - by careful choice or
manufacture of the paper, by the application of
folding and finishing skills, and sometimes also
by varying the folding sequence, particularly the
finishing folds, to produce an enhanced
aesthetic, or possibly more realistic, effect.
The results of craft origami design
can be divided into representational, abstract,
play and functional origami. There are individual
notes on each of these categories.
I also use the term partnership art to refer to the
partnership that exists in craft origami between
the designer, who first conceptualises and
defines the design, and the folder, who realises
one expression of it at one particular point in
time.
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One-off
origami is in many ways the antithesis
of craft origami. In this kind of origami the
designer intends to produce a design that is a
stand alone work which is not intended to be
reproduced by other paperfolders. One-off origami
designers often make use of wetfolding or
crumpling techniques which do not easily lend
themselves to exact reproduction in the way that
dryfolding does.
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Reverse
engineering is the process of working
out the starting shape and folding sequence for a
design from a finished folded example, an image
or photograph, or just a memory of a design once
seen, without having access to detailed folding
instructions. |
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Virtual
origami is origami without folding
paper. This is not as crazy as it sounds.
Experienced model-making paperfolders can often
look at a paperfold for the first time and
reconstruct the basic folding sequence in their
minds. It is a short step from that to being able
to visualise a finished model that you want to
design and 'unfolding' it to work out how it
could be made.
In
addition, origami designers, particularly
designers working in the realistic
representational origami field, are increasingly
using mathematical design techniques and only
realising their designs in paper once the design
process is at an advanced stage.
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Promotional origami is
origami which is designed / distributed for
promotional / advertising or self-promotion /
self-advertising purposes.
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It could be argued that much
of origami, particularly exploratory origami, is
play with paper, but what I mean here by
play origami is the design and
realisation of paperfolds which are intended as
toys.
There are two distinct types of play
origami, which I call active and passive play
origami.
Active play
origami is the design and
realisation of origami toys which change their
shape when played with. Examples are paperfolds
that flap, peck, jump, bite, bang etc or designs
that can be squashed, flexed or rotated through
their centre of symmetry. Active play origami
designs are often referred to as action folds.
By contrast, passive play
origami is the design and realisation of
origami toys which do not change their shape or
form when played with. Examples of this are paper
boats, paper planes, spinners and tumblers.
Flexagons are
active play paperfolds made by folding and
weaving strips of paper into polygonal forms
which can then be flexed to vary their shape and
appearance.
Playground folds
are paperfolds which are in common use by
children in schools and which survive by being
passed down from older children to younger. In
the UK the most common playground folds are the
basic paper dart from a rectangle (a passive play
paperfold) and the Fortune Teller from a square
(an active play paperfold). Playground folds can
be considered to be a form of everyday origami.
Origami Games are
games specifically designed to be played by
folding paper or which require paperfolds as
essential apparatus (eg Jumping Frog races).
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Representational
origami seeks to create representations
/ make models of either inanimate objects or
living beings by folding paper. These can either be
in the form of flat pictures (pictorial origami)
or three-dimensional models, or a mixture of the
two. In each case the main distinctions to be
made between the intention of the designer relate
to the amount of realism and detail that the
designer aspires to include within the design.
The family tree distinguishes between
impressionistic origami, minimalist
representational origami and realistic origami.
In impressionistic
origami the designer simply seeks to
create a recognisable representation or model of
the subject. See note 19 for further information.
In realistic
origami the designer seeks to create a
representation or model of the subject that is
much more detailed than a simple impressionistic
design. See note 20 for further information.
Bases tend
to be used in different ways (and the word base
itself with quite different meanings) in these
two categories.
Minimalist
representative origami similarly aspires to
the aim of recognisability that characterises
impressionistic origami but here the designer
also strives to represent the subject in the
minimum possible number of folds, usually between
1 and 5, although there is no hard and fast rule.
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Kusudama
are multiple sheet designs in the form
of balls of flowers or geometric modular designs
which include representations of flowers to
create a similar effect. Kusudama usually
contain both abstract and representational
elements and therefore deserve a category of
their own.
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Abstract
origami is a form of craft origami which
is about the folding of geometric and abstract
forms. The family tree distinguishes
between geometric sculpture, abstract
representational origami, abstract mimimalist
abstract origami and the folding of origami
tessellations.
Geometric
sculpture is the creation of original
abstract form by folding paper, whether from
single or multiple sheets or by using modules.
Abstract
representational origami is the
modelling of polygons and polyhedra by folding
paper, whether from single or multiple sheets or
by using modules.
Minimalist
abstract origami is a form of
geometric sculpture or abstract representational
origami in which the designer aims to create the
form using the minimum number of folds, usually
modelling between 1 and 5, although there is no
hard and fast rule.
Origami
Tessellations are a form of abstract
origami in which multi-layer tiling patterns are
produced from a single large sheet of paper,
normally by a technique known as twist folding,
although there are exceptions to this rule.
Paperfolding
puzzles are puzzles which are solved
(and possibly also set) by folding paper.
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Functional
origami is the design and realisation of
paperfolds which are intended to serve a
practical purpose around the home or in the
work-place. Examples are containers, stands,
picture frames and bookmarks.
Play origami could be considered to
be a form of functional origami.
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Rule-compliant
origami is a type of paperfolding which
is constrained by self-imposed rules which limit
the creative options normally available to a
designer in some specific way. Two examples of this
kind of origami are John Smith's Pureland and my
own Naive Origami.
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Minimalist
representational origami seeks to capture
the essence of an inanimate object or living
being in the fewest possible number of folds,
usually between 1 and 5, although there is no
hard and fast rule.
Minimalist representational origami
designs may be made using single sheet or
multiple sheet techniques.
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Pictorial
origami is a form of representational
origami in which the designer intends to produce
a flat, or largely flat, representation of a
subject. Pictorial origami may be single sheet or multiple sheet
in nature. The drawing with paper
technique uses paper which is white one side and
a single plain colour the other (or a different
plain colour each side) to create flat (but not
necessarily rectangular) two-colour images of
objects, figures, landscapes etc.
Drawing
with paper designs can be divided into single
image and double image
designs. Double image designs may be transforming
double images (a type of performance
origami in which one image transforms into
another by folding the design), visual
illusions (in which the same image can
be viewed in two separate ways wothout altering
the image in any way) or static double
images in which the second image is
found by turning the design over or around.
Many
minimalist folds are pictorial designs which use
the drawing with paper technique as this
dramatically increases the representational
potential of a few simple folds.
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Impressionistic
origami is a form of representative
origami where the designer simply seeks to create
a recognisable representation or model of the
subject. He or she may not be particularly
concerned with whether an elephant, for instance,
has four legs , a tail, a trunk and ears.
Modelling some of these may well suffice for
everyone to know that the design is intended to
be an elephant. Impressionistic origami designs are
often generic. An impressionistic representation
of a bird, for instance, may be obviously a bird
but not clearly a bird of any particular species.
Many
designs in this category are the serendipitious
product of exploratory origami rather than of a
deliberate design process.
Impressionistic
designers tend to use the traditional standard
set of bases and look for ways to achieve the
required design by developing the available
points (or if they are exploratory origami
designers, by looking for new possibilities
inherent in the configuration of points provided
by the base). I call the use of the traditional
set of bases in this way Old School Origami. (I wanted to call
it Old School Base-Based Origami ... but that was
too awkward a description, even for me.)
In terms of
ethics, designers of impressionistic origami are
probably more inclined to value the elegance of
the folding sequence highly as opposed to the
appearance of the finished design.
Simply
because it is impressionistic rather than
realistic this kind of origami offers a great
deal of creative freedom to the designer. Many
interesting categories of representational
origami such as Double Image Designs and See-through Designs sit happily under
the shelter of the impressionistic origami
umbrella.
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Realistic origami
is a form of representative origami where the
designer seeks to create a representation or
model of the subject that is as detailed and
realistic a portrayal as current paperfolding
techniques allow. In creating an elephant for
instance the designer may strive to achieve the
correct proportions of one part of the animal to
the others and will certainly want to include all
the main anatomical details such as such as legs,
tusks, trunk, ears and tail within the design.
Realistic origami designers often
design one-off bases (configurations of folds
with points of the right lengths and relative
proportions for the intended design arranged in
the right relationship to each other) from which
to develop their designs. I call this New School
origami.
Enthusiasts for this type of origami
often subscribe to the ethic that origami should
be single-sheet. They also tend to value the
appearance of the finished design highly as
opposed to the elegance of the folding sequence.
The combination of the single-piece
ethic and a desire for realism brings the
designer straight up against the limitations of
paperfolding technique, so it is not surprising
that most of the advances in single-sheet origami
technique, such as wet-folding, circle-packing
and the use of tesselations to represent the
texture of scales have been achieved by designers
who value realism highly.
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Geometric
sculpture is the creation of original
abstract form by folding paper, whether from
single or multiple sheets or by using modules. |
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Abstract
representational origami is the
modelling of polygons, polyhedra and other
mathematical forms by folding paper, whether from
single or multiple sheets or using modules,
whether from single or multiple sheets or by
using modules. |
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Minimalist
abstract origami is a form of either
geometric sculpture or abstract representational
origami in which the designer aims to create the
form using the minimum number of folds, usually
between 1 and 5, although there is no hard and
fast rule, whether from single or multiple sheets
or by using modules. Designs made using
multiple sheets or modules are generally
considered to be minimalist on the basis of the
number of folds required to create the individual
elements or modules rather than the total number
of folds required to make the design or structure
as a whole.
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Origami
Tessellations are a form of abstract
origami in which multi-layer tiling patterns are
produced from a single large sheet of paper by a
technique known as twist folding. |
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Paperfolding puzzles
are puzzles which are solved (and possibly also
set) by folding paper.
Puzzles which are set by folding
paper but which can only be solved by mathematics
are more correctly seen as a form of virtual
origami.
It is important to distinguish
between paperfolding puzzles and origami models
of puzzles which were originally designed in
another medium such as plastic or wood. Such
models are probably best categorised as examples
of abstract representational origami.
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