Origami Documentary: Between The Folds

A high-resolution version of this trailer can be seen here.

While looking for information about folded book forms I came across this trailer for Green Fuse Films' current documentary project, Between the Folds (working title, Exploring Origami). They have wrapped primary shooting and are in post-production. A special sneak preview will be showing May 31, 2008, at the Parrish Art Museum:

This feature-length documentary illuminates the beauty, complexity and powerful duality of origami in the 21st century, and the unexpected lives it shapes. Viewers will travel far beyond conventional child's craft to discover unforeseen directions in origami that decidedly blur the line between dizzying science and dazzling art. With world-renowned master-artists as guides – many with extensive backgrounds in the advanced sciences – the film sheds light on how origami uniquely fuses form and function, science and sculpture, ancient and new. Produced and directed by Vanessa Gould. Running time approximately 60 minutes.

In the meantime, here is another little film, 6 Artists: On Origami, 13-minutes long, specifically created by Green Fuse Films for the Mingei International Museum in connection with their origami exhibit in 2007.

Sites of some of the featured artists in the film:
Michael LaFosse
Eric Joisel
Paul Jackson
Robert J. Lang
Tom Hull

Pop-Up Cards to Make

Need a very special card for someone? The Canon 3D Papercraft site has a number of nice pop-ups that you can make. Just download the free instructions, print out the parts and get to work. No need to figure out how to do it yourself . The site also has downloads for gift boxes, animals and origami. You can even print your own Chiyogami (origami paper).

Origamic Architecture: Intricate Pop-ups

Origamic architecture is an amazing paper art. It involves the three-dimensional reproduction of architecture, geometric patterns, and everyday objects, on various scales, using cut-out and folded paper, usually thin cardboard. Visually, these creations are comparable to intricate pop-ups.

Like origami, origamic architecture originates from Japan. Tokyo Institute of Technology professor Masahiro Chatani is credited as the art form's creator, a practitioner of it since the 1980s. While his website showcases some incredible examples of his work, the website, Willem’s Origamic Architecture. from which I obtained the images in this post, pairs a photograph of the actual architectural model with the origamic rendering. The models are pretty impressive. To get a feel for what is involved, download one of the models that the site offers and make one yourself.

Himeji Castle, Himeji, Japan, 1333, rebuilt 1601

Peter Callesen: Paper Cut Sculpture

Recently, a friend emailed me about this artist and he is so phenomenal that I want to share him. Peter Callesen is a sculptor who works in paper, transforming a flat sheet (mostly single sheets of 80g. A4 paper, the kind sitting next to your computer printer) into a 3D form, leaving behind the negative space from which the form is created. Some of the the paper cuts relate to fairy tales, while others, Callesen states, “are small dramas in which small figures are lost within and threaten by the huge powerful nature … the thin white paper gives the paper sculptures a fragility which underlines the tragic and romantic theme of the works.”

While his work is not specifically book-related, what strikes me when I look at it, is the connection I feel it has to popup books, origami, and silhouette paper cutting, many traditions rolled into one, any of which could be used by creative book artists in their work.

Big Paper Castle, 2004, 7,20 x 7,15 x 3,75 m
Cut and folded from one sheet of 350 gsm paper

Peter Callesen (b. 1968) lives and works in Copenhagen.