Origami | Definition, History, Styles, & Facts (2024)

origami, art of folding objects out of paper to create both two-dimensional and three-dimensional subjects. The word origami (from Japanese oru [“to fold”] and kami [“paper”]) has become the generic description of this art form, although some European historians feel it places undue weight on the Japanese origins of an art that may well have developed independently around the world.

Basics

While cutting was traditionally a part of origami, most modern practitioners—often called “folders”—eschew cutting (although it continues to be used in the Rokoan style of connected cranes). Most origami is folded from square paper and from a single sheet. However, rectangles and other nonsquare sheets may also be used, and the composite and modular styles of origami use multiple sheets (even hundreds of sheets may be used in a single artwork).

Making models from paper can require very few resources and take mere minutes (or even seconds) to execute. Complex designs, on the other hand, can take hours to complete. Some folders prefer almost cartoonlike renderings of their subjects, utilizing simple folding sequences, while others strive for highly accurate representations, requiring advanced techniques. The use of diagramming signs, symbols, and arrows allows for the folding sequences to be accurately described and thereby duplicated, meaning this art form can be learned independent of language.

Folders generally do not compete with each other except in terms of achieving new heights of creativity. Creative competitions involve varying degrees of competitiveness. Enthusiasts usually share their work freely, although the time involved in creating diagrams for each creation means that folders can easily amass large backlogs of un-diagrammed work. In light of the commercial use of origami, copyright law has been exercised to protect the rights of creators.

Styles

Origami, like other art forms, has many styles. The more common ones include:

1. Realistic: Creations that exhibit the main features of the subject, often resulting in complex designs with many steps.

2. Minimal: Creations that capture the essence of the subject with minimal folds and with an emphasis on simplicity.

3. Modular: Multiple geometric "units" made from multiple sheets of paper whose flaps and pockets tuck into each other to form polygons or polyhedra. Typically, all sheets are folded in the same way or in a small number of ways.

4. Composite: As with modular origami, multiple sheets of paper are used, but in this style each sheet is folded differently to realize a different part of the subject. Composite origami was one of the most common styles in the 1950s and ’60s but is relatively uncommon today.

5. Practical: Models that have a real-life application, such as for use as envelopes, boxes, cups, dishes, etc.

6. Pureland: A concept suggested by John Smith of England, who proposed a composition system using only square paper and “mountain” and “valley” folds, resulting in models that are easy to duplicate.

7. Tessellations: A geometric folding technique in which the image is created by the pattern of folded edges across the paper. Tessellations are often periodic (repeating) and may be flat or three-dimensional, and many of them exhibit further structure when held up to the light. Not surprisingly, many of the leading practitioners of this technique have been mathematicians.

8. Wet folding: A technique invented by Akira Yoshizawa in which the paper contains a water-soluble glue (known as sizing) and is dampened slightly before folding. The dampness permits the paper to be folded into soft curves, which then harden in durability as the paper dries.

9. Crumpled: A technique created by Paul Jackson and developed by Vincent Floderer that involves the crumpling of the paper before folding. This technique can produce highly realistic organic forms.