The Art of Origami and Paper cutting
Origami first came into prominence in 17th
century Japan with the literal translation meaning folding paper. It is a
technique that allows the artist/designer to create basic or complex 3D
structures using a piece of paper by the means of folding. The level of
difficulty can range from the simple fortune teller/ salt seller structure to
more elaborate designs such as these:
There are two folds that you will always use in origami.
A mountain fold:
And a Valley fold:
These two folds alone are the basis for every design in
origami, they will allow you to start creating structures and textures.
Here is an example of one of the simplest forms of folding.
This technique can be repeated on one piece of paper in a grid format, it is
however, as I soon learned, technically difficult as the squares become smaller
and the numbers of squares increase. I recommend practising and gradually
building up your technique before attempting more intricate structures.
Another design, I personally found interesting for textiles,
was this piece:
There are many variations that you can use for this
technique and it produces very bold and effective results.
Paper Cutting or kirigami (literal translation meaning “to
cut paper”) is another form of origami yet it involves a variation between
cutting and folding. The simplest form of this technique is the basic step
structure.
From the basic step structure, a design can evolve into a
detailed and often elaborate design, for example:
