David Mitchell's Origami Heaven - Galleries

Origami Heaven

A paperfolding paradise

The website of writer and paperfolding designer David Mitchell

Gallery of Cushions

Cushions are two part modular sculptures where each of the two modules is created by dividing a rectangle into a grid of smaller rectangles using creases made in one direction and then dividing each of these smaller rectangles in half by a diagonal crease made in the other.

The first such 'cushion' was designed by Paulo Mulatinho using two squares divided into 4x4 grids. Paulo called this design UFO. I realised that the same kind of design could be made from squares divided into many other grids, then that the designs would also work if the same grid was applied to any other rectangle. Tung Ken Lam subsequently realised that cushions need not be regular, greatly extending the number of possible designs. (Modular designs can be said to be regular when they are made from identical modules and irregular when they are not).

In general grids up to 8x8 work well. Above this complexity the modules tend to hold together less well unless the folding is very accurate indeed. When the sides of a rectangle, other than a square, are divided into differing numbers of cells (eg 4x6) there are always two possible grids (ie 6x4 as well as 4x6). Additional grids can be created by splitting some cells or removing some crease lines from the grid.

On-line diagrams are available on the Modular Designs page of this site.