ORIGAMI - More Than Folding Paper

Having its origin in Asia , in particular china and japan, origami is called so literally meaning
"folding paper ". Now that origami has underwent few changes we have our own rules and
traditions stating each model must have its base in a square piece of paper and that no cuts
are to be made nor should there be any fastening. But the place of origin has other ideas.
Practising since the edo era, Japanese have no such hard rules. They use any paper , non
square, circular, triangular, anything.

Origin and history :

Born in china as "zhe zhi " but rooting itself at japan , origami grew under the efforts of akira
yoshizawa. He was the founder of the wet technique (using water for easy manipulation) and is
also considered as the grandmaster of this fine art .

The paper (material) :

Paper being the only raw material required, is selected very carefully and it can change as per
requirements. Usually 75-85 g/m2 paper is used for simple fold designs and much heavier
ones for wet technique. Kami is the name given in japan for those special pieces of paper
used in this art and is usually attractively colored. With just white on one side and multiple
shades on the other, the kami is so folded so that, the design on completion is colored.

Action origami:

The origami known to majority of the world is creation of still lifeforms, be it a crane or a
pegasus or a 5 headed snake. But that part which after creation can fly or jump or in fact
perform some action is called ACTION ORIGAMI. Adepts in this form of origami can make
anything from hopping frogs to music playing men to limbs shaking dolls. The principle used
is basic physics where kinetic energy is converted to potential energy and vice versa, but the
effects produced are eye catching.

Technical origami :

Gone are those days when man used to sit with square sheets of paper, folding it this
way and that trying to create designs out of imagination and shouting out eureka when he
actually does. Knowing the mathematics behind origami has helped create designs painlessly
where the crease patterns (lifelines in origami) is generated to suit the model. This is called
origami sekkei or in plain terms technical origami. This was pioneered by Robert Lang, proud
author of many books on origami . But even as this method has gained popularity
professionals speak their heart that drawing method would never be substituted for its ease
and simplicity in generation.

Amazing it is to think that creativity could mother designs and patterns and all that we need for
this other than creativity is a piece of paper .