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Home > Robert J. Lang :: Origami
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Robert J. Lang :: Origami
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"Basset Hound, opus 212," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of kozo paper with lnclusions, 8", composed 1988, folded 2012
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"C. P. Snow, opus 612," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of Korean hanji, 10", composed and folded 2009
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Grizzly Bear, opus 433," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of Korean hanji, 8", composed 2002, folded 2003
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Locust," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of Origamido paper, 3", composed and folded 2004
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Praying Mantis, opus 416," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of paper, 4", composed and folded 2002
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"QuezadaPot13, opus 590," by Robert J. LangOne uncut triskadecagon of Mexican yucca paper, 8", composed and folded 2009
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Rattlesnake, opus 539," by Robert J. LangOne uncut rectangle of Thai unryu paper, 8", composed and folded 2008
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Thataway, opus 570," by Robert J. LangOne uncut dollar, 2", composed and folded 2010
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Turtle, opus 269," by Robert J. LangOne uncut square of Origamido paper, 5", composed 1992, folded 2002
The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation. --- Robert J. Lang
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"Fiddler Crab, opus 446," by Robert J. Lang. Medium: One uncut square of Origamido paper, composed and folded in 2004, 4". Image courtesy of Robert J. Lang. Photograph by Robert J. Lang.The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation.
I'm especially pleased with this model, which involves a combination of symmetry with one distinctly non-symmetric element. The base is quite irregular, but its asymmetry is mostly concealed. The crease pattern is here.
--- Robert J. Lang
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"Fiddler Crab, opus 446" crease pattern, by Robert J. Lang. Copyright Robert J. Lang (www.langorigami.com).Crease patterns (CPs) provide a one-step connection from the unfolded square to the folded form, compressing hundreds of creases, and sometimes hours of folding, into a single diagram! A CP can sometimes be more illuminating than a detailed folding sequence, conveying not just "how to fold," but also how the figure was originally designed. Mathematical and geometric CPs usually show all the creases, but representational origami rarely shows every crease in the finished form, as it would make the crease pattern impossibly busy. Instead, the crease pattern gives the creases needed to fold the "base," that is, a geometric shape that has the right number and arrangements of flaps. It is still left up to the folder to add thinning and shaping folds. See the final "Fiddler Crab" origami work in this album.
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"Night Hunter, opus 469," by Robert J. Lang. Medium: One uncut square of Korean hanji, composed and folded in 2003, 18". Image courtesy of Robert J. Lang. Photograph by Robert J. Lang.The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation.
--- Robert J. Lang
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"Night Hunter, opus 469" crease pattern, by Robert J. Lang. Copyright Robert J. Lang (www.langorigami.com).Crease patterns (CPs) provide a one-step connection from the unfolded square to the folded form, compressing hundreds of creases, and sometimes hours of folding, into a single diagram! A CP can sometimes be more illuminating than a detailed folding sequence, conveying not just "how to fold," but also how the figure was originally designed. Mathematical and geometric CPs usually show all the creases, but representational origami rarely shows every crease in the finished form, as it would make the crease pattern impossibly busy. Instead, the crease pattern gives the creases needed to fold the "base," that is, a geometric shape that has the right number and arrangements of flaps. It is still left up to the folder to add thinning and shaping folds. See the final "Night Hunter" origami work in this album.
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"Bull Moose, opus 413," by Robert J. Lang. Medium: One uncut square of Nepalese lokta, composed and folded in 2002, 6". Image courtesy of Robert J. Lang. Photograph by Robert J. Lang.The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation.
--- Robert J. Lang
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"Tree Frog, opus 280," by Robert J. Lang. Medium: One uncut square of Origamido paper, composed in 1993, folded in 2005, 5". Image courtesy of Robert J. Lang. Photograph by Robert J. Lang.The intersections between origami, mathematics, and science occur at many levels and include many fields of the latter. Origami, like music, also permits both composition and performance as expressions of the art. Over the past 40 years, I have developed nearly 600 original origami compositions. About a quarter of these have been published with folding instructions, which, in origami, serve the same purpose that a musical score does: it provides a guide to the performer (in origami, the folder) while allowing the performer to express his or her own personality through interpretation and variation.
--- Robert J. Lang
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The connection between mathematics and
art goes back thousands of years. Mathematics has been
used in the design of Gothic cathedrals, Rose windows,
oriental rugs, mosaics and tilings. Geometric forms were
fundamental to the cubists and many abstract expressionists,
and award-winning sculptors have used topology as the
basis for their pieces. Dutch artist M.C. Escher represented
infinity, Möbius bands, tessellations, deformations,
reflections, Platonic solids, spirals, symmetry, and
the hyperbolic plane in his works.