I came across The Art of Folding Vol. 2: New Trends, Techniques and Materials (TAoF2) while browsing the origami section at my local Kinokuniya, a chain of Japanese bookstores. I was put off by the pretentious title but flipped through it anyway and I’m glad I did.
I had been looking for “what’s next?” in origami both personally and generally. Personally, I had just wrapped up a two-year modular phase with some tessellations and Jun Mitani sprinkled in, and was considering whether to (1) try my hand at design (probably modular), (2) try computer-aided design and folding à la Mitani and Demaine, (3) return to traditional origami and work on shaping and finishing (I got a Yoshizawa book for Christmas), or (4) return to folding complex models from diagrams.
Overview Thomas Hull founded the field of origami wireframes (or polypolyhedra per Robert Lang) when he created the classic Five Intersecting Tetrahedra (FIT) model. FIT is comprised of five tetrahedra (aka triangular pyramids), each constructed using a unit for each of six edges, that share a center-point and all intersect without overlapping. The existence of FIT has inspired many folders to design their own wireframe models, some of which I’ve re-created in my gallery.
I attended the OrigamiUSA convention this year from June 26-27. The convention is usually held on a college campus, but this year, instead of canceling it, OUSA decide to reduce the number of events and host it on Zoom. I attended an in-person convention a few years and actually preferred this year’s online one:
I could participate from my sofa instead of commuting 1.5+ hours each way and day I had all my tools and supplies readily available I actually got to attend the classes I wanted.
Opportunity for automation After a 7-year hiatus, I recently started folding origami again and decided to focus on tessellations and modulars. I used to fold mostly representational models, i.e. animals and humans, and wanted to explore some new areas. Luckily for me, origami advanced greatly while I was away and the first good books on tessellations1 and wireframe modulars2 were published by Eric Gjerde and Byriah Loper, respectively. I bought both books, dove straight into making models, and immediately found myself repeating the same steps hundreds of times.