- Learn more about Origamis

About Origamis:

First of all what is a origami?

The origami is a folding with a square or rectangular sheet of paper. It can take forms as simple as a hat or a paper plane or as complex as a representation of the Eiffel Tower, a gazelle or a stegosaur, which requires more than an hour and a half of work. The origami can represent an animal, a plant or an object but can also represent simple or complex geometrical forms: those are known as 'modular'. They are generally composed of the same basic folds repeated several times and imbricate in each other to give the final form. However as you could note it the Origami-Invasion project is based on the folding of the Japanese crane. You will find in the section `Make Them', the instructions.

The origins of origamis?

The 'invention' of paper folding probably followed soon after the invention of paper itself. The earliest known traditions of paper folding were of ceremonial origin, such as the Japanese noshi, which started in the Muromachi era (1392 to 1573). Origami was initially used solely for religious purposes due to the high cost of paper; however, when paper became cheaper due to new production techniques, origami became popularized as a form of entertainment. This is when traditional models such as the crane developed; during this period, the first two origami books were published. European origami evolved independently, although to a lesser extent; the baptismal certificate of 16th century, represented by a little bird (pajarita in Spanish or cocotte in French) was one of the only models developed outside of Japan.

The Japanese word "origami" itself is a compound of two smaller Japanese words: "oru", meaning fold, and "kami", meaning paper. Until recently, all forms of paper folding were grouped under the word origami, namely "tsutsumi", a kind of wrapper used for formal occasions. Before that, paperfolding for play was known by a variety of names, including "orikata", "orisue", "orimono", "tatamigami" and others. Exactly why "origami" became the common name is not known! Here under some illustrations showing what you can do with some ordinary paper: