Talking Origami

So to me, paper is one of the most marvellous products ever invented. I have written about the incredible art which has and is being made by cutting paper. Equally amazing is what can be done by merely folding paper. The Japanese art of origami has been with us for centuries. Here I wanted to talk about how it has influenced other spheres. How origami appears in or influences other fields of endeavour.

Consider fashion:

Hungarian designer Dora Mojzes




André Lima's Spring 2009 collection (inspired by origami)


Chanel’s Spring 2009 Haute Couture origami headpieces




John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture Spring 2007 {via eyesing}

Design:

Hannah Allijn’s faceted curtain


Eric Mathew and Andrew Ooi's origami light fixtures {via Bring Me Up: Design}

Check out Origami Tessalations collection of origami lighting!

Even Urban Outfitter's had an Origami Pigeon Pillow:


Architecture:

The Origami by Kann Finch, designed for Meydan City in Dubai


This origami inspired house in Tokyo was designed by architect Yasuhiro Yamashita.


Ming Tang’s origami-inspired Folded Bamboo Houses are intended to be used as temporary shelters in the aftermath of an earthquake {via Inhabit}

Astrophysics (folding orbiting telescope design):

Robert J. Lang's origami-inspired 100 m diameter folding lens. His other combinations of his skill as an origami artist with his work as a physicist include how to fold airbags and a mesh wire heart support to be folded and implanted in congestive heart failure patients.

Origami appears of coures, in fine art, like some of the prints I have posted. Or these:

O is for Origami by DP Sullivan

Origami appears often in the work of Anna Rusakova (moleska on LJ):



This is by Nick Lu:



Takei's children's illustration

This is a moku hanga woodblock print I made called 'Little Boat Big Ocean'. It is about the things we cannot control. A barely-perceived fisher sits in a paper origami boat, beneath which looms a giant octopus:



Check out this inter-active sculptural piece involving paper folding. "Hull Loss invites participants to make paper airplanes and launch them through a series of mechanically animated scissors."

The Flytrap/Hull Loss from Nova Jiang on Vimeo.

Nova Jiang - Hull Loss, April, 2008

Talking Trees, with scarves

I have posted about cutting paper, and before I continue on with the wonders of folding paper, I would like to go off on a brief tangent to ask, "How cool is Jing Wei?" This young illustrator grew up in Northern California, though she was born in China. Currently she is based in "a treehouse in Brooklyn". Her style is has a touch of the surreal, magic, the cute and comics, but she has such delicacy of line and colour, in her chosen media: the woodblock print. Oh, and she has a things about scarves. Go look at her portfolio already! You can find more on her blog too.


Roperite - woodcut, ink, 12 x 12 (inches, I assume?)


Lobsters - woodcut, ink, 9 x 16.5


Groover vs. The Automatic Cat Feeder- woodcut, ink, 4 x 6


Talking Trees - woodcut, ink, 11.5 x 14

Bears and Origami

Clearly, these are two great things which go great together. Add some fabulous, contemporary printmakers, and you have:

Origami bear, by Emma Kidd (aka benconservato), a gocco print on aqua rice paper which I have now in my home.


a woodcut by Jing Wei, 10 x 13

A print I will have to pine for, from afar.

As a printmaker who makes relief prints, and has made a multicolour woodblock print, I am completely blown away by Jing Wei's portfolio. Stay tuned - more on her soon.