MODULAR ORIGAMI IN ARGENTINA

Articles & Notes

Laura Azcoaga - MAIL

This page contains mainly reading materials. There are a few images illustrating some texts, but it's mostly information, history, definitions and other things that seemed interesting.

CONTENTS

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ORIGAMI AND MODULAR ORIGAMI

The Spanish version contains a translation of excepts from Hatori Koshito's most excellent article on the subject. You can read it at  http://origami.ousaan.com/library/historye.html 

A facsimile version of Sembazuru Orikata may be found at   http://www.origami.gr.jp/Model/Senbazuru/index-e.html)

I have kept a few images to illustrate what is meant by each 'category'

Much more can be found  in the articles published by David Lister in the  British Origami Society page (http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/lister/index.htm). The list is long and rich, but the ones listed below are on the History of Origami

History of paperfolding - a German perspective

Old European origami 2

Errors and misconceptions about paperfolding history

Shari Lewis & Lillian Oppenheimer

The beginnings of organised paperfolding in the West

  Modular Origami

(I think I borrowed bits of this text from several sources, but they are all quoted in this page)

La primera evidencia histórica de un diseño modular proviene de un libro japonés de Hayato Ohoka publicado en 1734 titulado called  Ranma Zushiki. Tiene una lámina con un número de modelos tradicionales entre los cuales hay un cubo modular al que llama 'tematebako' o 'baúl mágico'. Isao Honda en su 'World of Origami' (Japan Publications ISBN 0-87040-383-4, 1965) parece tener el mismo modelo al que llama Caja Cúbica. Son seis módulos derivados del plegado Menko, que forman las caras del cubo.
Existen otros diseños modulares japoneses, entre ellos los kusudamas (o bolas medicinales). Generalmente las partes están unidas con hilo. El término kusudama es aplicado a veces en forma errónea a estructuras tridimensionales más o menos redondeadas.
Existen algunos modelos modulares en la tradición china, particularmente la Pagoda y el Loto. Las posibilidades inherentes al diseño de piezas basadas en la repetición de un plegado no se exploraron hasta mediados de los años 60, cuando la técnica fue reinventada por Robert Neale en los EEUU y luego por  Mitsonobu Sonobe en Japón. Desde entonces la técnica del origami modular se ha popularizado enormemente y existen actualmente miles de modelos y diseños de módulos.

More about the subject in David Lister's articles

Sonobe Module

Toshie Takahama

Contents

Some definitions that may help understand what's what

MODULAR ORIGAMI (also called unit origami by the Japanese) - A folding technique that assembles a number of similar modules to create complex structures that often can't be folded from a single sheet. Each paper square (or rectangle, or triangle) is folded creating units which are assembled to produce flat or tridimensional shapes by means of a flap/pocket system. Normally, the friction of the paper surfaces keep the flaps in place and hold the piece together. Otherwise, there's glue, you know...

MULTI-MODULAR ORIGAMI - requires modules of more than one type to create apiece. The condition is still the repetition of the modules which sometimes serve as hinges, assembly elements, or are purely decorative.

MATHEMATICAL ORIGAMI - Often confused with modular origami because the latter produces mostrly geometrical structures and polyhedra. In Math Origami only one sheet of paper is used, where all the folds (creases) are calculated before folding, to produce a given figure or model. Crease patterns (CP) are the most common form of diagram in this field.

FLAT ORIGAMI - Includes tesselations and mosaics or quilts, each using a different technique.

• TESSELLATIONS: A single sheet of paper (usually large, thin and translucent) is marked with a series of creases which, when folded, result in a geometrical repetition lattice.
  
  

• MOSAICS or QUILTS:  A type of modular origami combining siminal units on the plane which results in a repetition pattern. 

Sonobè Module
The Sonobe Cube was discovered around 1968 by Japanese paper folder Mitsonobu Sonobe and is one of the foundations of the development of modular origami (the other one is Robert Neale's Octahedron). It's part of the family of modules with central pockets. (David Mitchell)

Indice

Unamuno's Pajarita

The place to find lots of pajarita diagrams is the Asociación Española de Papiroflexia.

Anatomía de la pajarita de papel

La razón de ser, en efecto, de la pajarita de papel es su perfección geométrica, perfección a que todas ellas tienden, aunque no logren alcanzarla jamás. 
La perfecta pajarita ha de poder ser inscrita en un cuadrado perfecto (...) ideal que se cierne en el mundo platónico de las ideas puras. El divino arquetipo de la pajarita es una especie geométrica que yace desde la eternidad en el seno de la Geometría. Cuanto más una pajarita se acerca a su arquetipo y cuanto se inscribe en más perfecto cuadrado, tanto más perfecta es ella y tanto más se acerca a la superpajarita inaccesible.
Y aquí se nos presenta una interesantísima y muy sugestiva cuestión; es, a saber, la de que lo que hace la individualidad de cada pajarita, lo que de las demás pajaritas de su tamaño la distingue es precisamente su imperfección.
(...)
Y la pajarita es, a no dudarlo, la forma arquitectónica, digámoslo así, que el papel pide y exige, la forma que del papel surge naturalmente, la perfección de la figura en papel, el perfecto ser papiráceo.

UNAMUNO DE, Miguel, Amor y Pedagogía, Madrid, Ed. Espasa-Calpe, S. A., Col. "Austral", pp. 153, 154 y 156.

Again, my sources on this subject have been David Lister's articles

The Pajarita

Papiroflexia

  Don Miguel de Unamuno, Spanish writer and philosopher

Contents

TO GLUE OR NOT TO GLUE

One of the basic tenets of traditional origami is that folds should hold without using glue. However, there are some traditional Japanese pieces like kusudamas or temate baku that need glue to hold together. Origami is essentially an ephemeral art form, the models have a more or less short life and hardly any survive manipulation and moving. The first thing a person who sees a modular piece wants to do is to touch it, look at it from all sides. Few survive.

I am naturally resistant to orthodox views of any kind, and my teaching experience -I have to carry models to my classes- is that arriving with a piece that has fallen apart on the way in spite of all our precautions is very frustrating. There are also some models -those with lots of modules, or a large radius, or the inverted sonobè assemblies- that are only possible if they are glued.

Glue must be applied most carefully and neatly. Very little is required, and often we must wait for it to dry before we can carry on. I use brochette sticks or other pointy tools to accurately control how much glue I'm using and where. When the models have been assembled with glue, there is no justification for imperfections. Modular origami is not an art for the hasty or the impatient, and what I enjoy most is the construction process, the endless magic of three dimensionality.

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