What is created from a six-by-six-inch square of paper without using scissors or glue? Either something for the wastebasket or the high art of origami! Richly illustrated and fascinating essays investigate the amazing history and diversity of origami: an inspiration for contemporary designers, architects, and artists, but also a source of innovative ideas for scientists and doctors.

A small square of paper measuring six by six inches is the starting point for origami, the nearly two-thousandyear-old art of paperfolding. From this modest beginning, the origami master creates objects of fascinating intricacy and beauty, like the famous crane, following the unwritten rule not to use scissors or glue. The craft literally took off as an art form in the nineteen-nineties, as renowned galleries and museums began collecting origami, gradually elevating it to the status of contemporary sculpture.

This richly illustrated volume of full-color plates presents outstanding works by around sixty masters of origami from sixteen different countries-including Vincent Floderer, Tomoko Fuse, Paul Jackson, Koshiro Hatori, Eric Joisel, Saburo Kase, Michael LaFosse, Robert Lang, Joseph Wu, and Akira Yoshizawa. Contributing authors explore the fascinating diversity and complexity of the art of paperfolding in texts devoted to its history, the use of often exquisite, handmade paper, folding techniques, to the role of origami as a source of inspiration for contemporary designers, architects, and artists, and to its increasing importance in science and medicine.

Introduction

VAnn Cornelius

Essays und Perspectives

The Making of a Paperfolder: Akira Yoshizawa

David Lisier

A Brief History of Origami

Koshiro Hatori

The Perfect Paper

Michael LaFosse and Richard L.Alexander

The Application of Origami to Mathematics and Science

Robert J.Lang

Folding & Unfolding in Art & Design

Paul Jackson

Masters of Origami

The Art of Paperfolders

Practical Information