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Origami and the laws of physics

<div class="copy"> <p>It’s rare that an art form has enforceable rules.</p> <p>A sculptor is free to choose which material to use as well as the size of the finished piece. Painters are not told what to paint or which technique to use on the canvas. Indeed, the choice to paint on canvas is entirely theirs. Other arts may have established patterns, categories and forms, but rules are uncommon.</p> <p>On the other hand, origami, the Japanese art of paper folding, is interesting because of its restrictions. Classic origami models should be created from a single sheet of paper – no cutting or gluing allowed.</p> <p>From this simple proposition a wonderful variety arises. Animals from antelope to zebra, human forms, musical instruments and even modern stealth aircraft have all been folded from one sheet. It is no wonder that origami has been called “an art of economy”.</p> <p>The precise origins of origami are lost to history. Although paper was folded into a variety of shapes for use during ceremonies for the nobility and wealthy as early as the Heian period (794–1185 AD), what we would today consider “recreational origami” doesn’t appear to have developed until the middle of the 17th century, or possibly a little earlier.</p> <p>It took about 200 more years for what is arguably the first book on origami to appear. <em>Sembazuru Orikata</em>, or <em>How to fold 1,000</em> cranes, was published in 1797. In the 20th century and now into the 21st, many modern origami masters emerged, but two deserve special mention.</p> <p>The first is Yoshizawa Akira. Yoshizawa is widely considered to have been the “grandmaster of origami”. He created tens of thousands of original models, and is also responsible for the rebirth of the art in the 1950s.</p> <p>In addition to his beautiful designs, Yoshizawa created the diagramming system of dotted lines and arrows to indicate fold directions. This symbolic notation allows origami creators and folders to follow instructions without having to read Japanese – or any other language for that matter.</p> <p>The Yoshizawa system, with only minor adjustments and additions, is still in use. In 1983 Emperor Hirohito awarded Yoshizawa the Order of the Rising Sun – one of Japan’s highest honours – for his promotion of Japanese culture.</p> <p>The second modern master is Robert Lang. Trained as a physicist and engineer, Lang was introduced to origami at the age of six. By his early teens he was creating original designs.</p> <p>He continued his study of origami while at Stanford University and Caltech where he was awarded his PhD in applied physics. The combination of his scientific background and his love of origami has enabled him to develop amazing designs and techniques.</p> <p>Just 40 years ago virtually all origami had the same stylised form it had at the turn of the century. No one would have confused an origami insect with the real thing. In fact, before the 1990s, few folders even attempted to create insects, as it was considered far too difficult to achieve any satisfactory realism with them. Lang certainly disproved that.</p> <p>With the advent of computer-aided designs and through the efforts of Lang and a few other artists, the traditional art form began to allow for hyper-realistic insects, crustaceans, and spiders to be folded, as well as hundreds of other designs formerly dismissed as impossible.</p> <p>Lang’s creation of a realistic cuckoo clock from a single sheet of paper in the late 1980s made him a sensation in the origami world. It was just one of many innovations and discoveries on his part.</p> <p>Leaving his job as a physicist at Silicon Valley communications company JDS Uniphase in 2001, Lang devoted himself full time to origami, but didn’t entirely remove himself from the world of science; he continues to be involved in engineering and science through his origami research.</p> <p>Lang has consulted with automobile safety equipment manufacturers on the optimal way to stow air bags, worked with members of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the best way to fit a 30-metre optical telescope into a rocket body without creasing the fragile lens membrane, and designed a sterile medical instrument pouch that can be opened without being contaminated.</p> <p>With the confluence of maths and origami not yet 30 years old, Lang believes that continued research into the art will have even more to offer.</p> <p>As he puts it: “Problems that you solve for aesthetic value only… turn out to have an application in the real world. And as weird and surprising as it may sound, origami may some day even save a life.”</p> <em>Image credit: Shutterstock          <!-- Start of tracking content syndication. Please do not remove this section as it allows us to keep track of republished articles --> <img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=6269&amp;title=Origami+and+the+laws+of+physics" alt="" width="1" height="1" /> <!-- End of tracking content syndication -->          </em></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/origami-and-the-laws-of-physics/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Jason England. </em></p> </div>

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Meet my brother, the incredible origami artist

<p><em><strong>Margaret Cunningham is a hobby writer who particularly enjoys writing articles with a reflective viewpoint. A lifelong passion of health and fitness means she is known in her community as ‘that lady who runs’.</strong></em></p> <p>Fold and unfold – simple words intimately connected to infinite creativity? When you visit visual artist, Jonathan Baxter, at his home in Rotorua, New Zealand, or at his studio in Brisbane, Australia you will do one of two things. Be mesmerised by the artists hands as they repeatedly fold, unfold, crease, crumple, pucker and pleat or, you will be unable to sit down for long, due to the smorgasbord of paper creations on display around the room. The temptation to leap out of your chair to prod and poke is overwhelming. Framed lizards, crabs, fish and lobsters line the walls, ornamental dragons, dinosaurs and rhinoceros fill shelves. Unique and beautiful tessellated bowls and lampshades defy logic and complex modular creations with names like icosahedron and dodecahedron decorate the room. Thousands of incredibly intricate folds, multi-folds and swirling patterns. I never tire of visiting and always leave with a sense of wonder at the potential of the creative spirit.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="409" height="375" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/40940/jonathan-1.jpg" alt="Jonathan 1"/></p> <p><br /> Jonathan has worked in the visual arts field for more than 40 years and currently works in the paper medium, specializing in an area of paper folding also known as ‘Origami’.  He was once called the ‘Bruce Lee’ of origami.  It’s not a term Jonathan is particularly comfortable with but there are similarities. Like Lee and his martial arts, Jonathan is unswervingly committed to his craft and, like his namesake and, unless it’s for a major art installation, Jonathan prefers adhering to the pure rules of origami - no cutting and no gluing.  When it comes to origami Jonathan sits alongside the best origami artists in the world and I’m proud to say Jonathan Baxter is my brother.</p> <p>Origami is the Japanese word for paper folding. ORI means to fold and KAMI means paper. Though not the case for our family, origami is an art form that has been handed down from parent to child through many generations. Today it is widely practiced throughout the world.  In 1999 Jonathan was one of 5 people from around the world invited by Japan’s greatest living origami master Akira Yoshizawa to exhibit with him in a Tokyo gallery. Jonathan is an accomplished artist in his own right and has sold work at fine art shows and galleries in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.</p> <p>All through history there have been families for whom artistic talent seems to run in the blood. Unfortunately, most of my siblings, including myself, still struggle to draw a straight line with a ruler so Jonathan has always been a bit of a conundrum to us with his artistic talent and his ability to pursue and be successful at any of his creative passions. Whether it is acting, drawing, creating, designing or building; Jonathan’s artistic talent and his love for the arts shines through.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="500" height="159" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/40939/in-text-2_500x159.jpg" alt="In Text 2 (11)"/></p> <p>As a child, he was always building something, making something, painting something or performing something. There was the doll’s house complete with furniture, his match stick builds, the Mecano creations, plasticine sculptures and, into his teenage years, the fabulous underground hut. He loved nothing more than to usher us into the lounge to watch his latest magic show or have us listen to his latest sequel of limericks and theatre pieces.  But why origami?  Jonathan says he finds intense enjoyment and mental stimulation from making things.</p> <p>“To bring something from an idea, to a simple sketch, then into actual reality where you can actually touch is a challenge I’ve always been motivated to apply myself. Whether it’s wood, metal, glass, plastics, fabrics, clay, large-scale, handheld or miniature, I’ve explored a wide range of art forms in my lifetime.  Along this journey I discovered paper folding where over the decades it has continued to fascinate, challenge and reward me for my efforts.”</p> <p>When I tell people my brother is an origami artist conversation seems to always shift away from the artist to the art. To whether origami is an art, as opposed to not an art, or is it just a craft? Visions of paper cranes, boats and planes float to mind for most of us when thinking about origami. Remember the origami fortune teller? I'm sure we've all made these at some point in time. It was a school favourite of mine. A piece of paper folded with flaps that when lifted, foretold a future career, a favourite colour or number. This is the origami experience for most people and Jonathan admits it has taken centuries for origami to be accepted as a true art form.</p> <p>“For much of the time origami is relegated to something that children do. The last 50 years has seen a dramatic turnaround, going from a hundred or so simple designs, to in excess of 80,000 published designs and probably as many again that are unpublished. These range in complexity from a few dozen folds to more than 1000 folds in a single sheet. Exhibits at the Cooper Hewitt in NYC, the Mingei in San Diego, the Louvre in Paris have helped to change the opinion of what origami is.”<br />                                 <br /> Most people practice origami as a craft, only a few people do origami as art or as science or use it for mathematics. But Jonathan says in recent decades, numerous industries have focused on the mechanics of paper folding and its application to emerging technologies. Among these have been the space industry in learning how to unfold giant surfaces such as solar sails and telescopes in space. The auto industry with airbags, devices that must unfold effectively in less than a second. Crumple zones behind bumpers where strategic folds in metal can absorb high energy impact. Medicine, the stent familiar to many seniors, is a device that relies on a very simple origami fold to open inside the artery to relieve pressure. Nanotechnology, DNA proteins that fold and creating molecular hinges are just a few. It seems origami is limitless in its potential.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="500" height="198" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/40938/in-text-3_500x198.jpg" alt="In Text 3 (4)"/></p> <p>Of all the accolades Jonathan has received, the one he cherishes most is ‘teacher’. In New Zealand Jonathan formed Origami New Zealand (ONZ) to bring the art form to the public through exhibits, demonstrations, workshops, and installations using contemporary designs in paper folding. In 2006 his organization was awarded funding to create The Great Origami Maths and Science Show, which toured throughout New Zealand to college audiences.  Who would have thought that paper could be such an awesome tool for learning and who would have thought there was so much knowledge buried in the folds of origami? Much more visible, do-able and touchable when you can see mathematical principals unfold before your eyes.</p> <p>In June of 2007 ONZ officially opened the New Zealand Origami Collection, a permanent display of origami works at the Rotorua Arts Village. In 2009 Jonathan established Plico Design, an art studio in Brisbane, that handles origami assignments for media, interior design, and event companies. You can check it out at <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://www.plico.com.au/" target="_blank">www.plico.com.au</a></strong></span>.</p> <p>When I called in to see Jonathan at his New Zealand home in March, he was frantically busy finishing artworks for his up and coming Australian exhibition, ‘Beyond the folded edge’ held in May 2017. The exhibition exemplified the cutting edge of origami. Folds inspired by nature, dancing with the balance and symmetries of mathematics. While origami has its roots deep in history, Jonathan says origami is an evolving art and ‘Beyond the folded edge’ continued the tradition while taking conventions to the next level. Flabbergasting intricate multi-folds, modular creations and swirling patterns are the threshold of this new direction. I pick up a framed piece of work and read the label, ‘One piece of paper, No cutting or gluing, One thousand folds, One journey’. Mind-boggling!</p> <p>Although there is and always will be only one origami artist in our family, we all have been marked in some way with the spirit of origami.</p> <p>“Origami has always had a spirit of sharing, this lends itself well to social interactions with others either as student or teacher. It is inexpensive, a pleasurable past-time, with an end product that can often be given as a gift,” Jonathan says.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="320" height="474" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/40937/in-text-4.jpg" alt="In Text 4 (1)"/></p> <p>For as long as I can remember our family celebrations have always shared components of origami. The Christmas cards with folded elves and Christmas stockings, a folded bouquet of red roses for Mum, jumping frog games at the table and dogs, cats, penguins and dragons fill our cabinets.  And how can I forget my foray onto the wearable arts scene when Jonathan came to my rescue? For some strange and inexplicable reason, I got this idea to enter a wearable arts competition as part of a workplace team exercise. We based our creation around the story of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes" target="_blank">Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes</a></strong></span>. In theory, it may have been a great idea, but I had absolutely no inkling on how to artistically and technically execute the project. How many cranes? What size paper? What would the cranes be attached to? Thankfully Jonathan was back in New Zealand for a short spell and was able to add his expertise, come to the rescue many times, and create an elaborate head piece for the event. Our project earned us 3<sup>rd</sup> place in the competition. Without his help, we would never have got there.</p> <p>No, He may not be comfortable with being called the Bruce Lee of origami but one thing I know for sure – Jonathan Baxter is most definitely the Bruce Lee of brothers, albeit, a brother with a very unusual occupation.</p>

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