‘Super Complex’ Origami

Not a lot of people know about the rich world of modern complex origami. Most of us have encountered a folded crane or boat at some point in our lives, but very few have heard of NASA Origami Scientist Robert Lang or are familiar with the intuitive designs of Satoshi Kamiya. Origami is an artform intricately tied with geometry, and so subject to mathematical design and applicable to other disciplines like space travel and molecular biology. 

My passion for origami runs deep- from competitions when I was younger, bolstered by my love for mathematics and character design, to art commissions. Here I’ve selected a very few pieces to share that attempt to cover this span in the least amount of pieces possible, covering the last decade. 

Miniatures- 2022 (Malaysia).

All of these pieces are from a single receipt cut into successively smaller squares. The smallest crane is about half the size of a pinky nail and a testament to the limitations of paper folding. 

Divine Dragon- 2018 (Huntington Beach) Design by Satoshi Kamiya

This piece is very complex, and like other complex models, requires a very large piece of paper- approximately a 3ft square. The finished piece is about 6in tall with a modest ~200 steps to completion. 

Wedding Moment- 2025 (Mission Viejo) 

This is a piece designed to commemerate the wedding of some of my closest friends. It is folded from a single piece of paper treated with orange on one side and white on the other. 

Tessellation 2023 (San Luis Obispo)

Tessellations are a divergent branch of origami with rigid repeating geometric patterns that create beautiful shapes. It is this branch of origami that is most applied to space travel- creating devices that can fold up very small during transit and then expand when needed. 

The Dwarf 2018 (Huntington Beach) Design based upon Eric Joisel’s Dwarf

Humanoid origami design is very difficult- paper is a difficult medium in which to impart emotions and expressions. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoyed creating this piece with a custom treated foil paper that helps capture the dwarf’s character. 

Many of these super complex pieces are designed by laying out patterns of folds on a piece of paper before making a single crease- creating something called a crease pattern. Geometric rules and design principles are employed to align the result of the collapsed folds with the desired subject. Once the creases are layed out, the origami designer folds the model along them, often conducting many steps of folding without the model collapsing flat.

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