Department of Mathematics and Systems Analysis

PAPER TESSELLATION

Crystal Bennes, Taina Hyppölä, Lauri Laatu, Linda Lazarov, Janne Rinta-Mänty, Mona Taponen

20em"

White paper (120gsm), steel wire

In origami, a flat sheet of paper transforms into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. A tessellation has one or more geometric tiling shapes on a surface. Origami tessellations take a simple crease pattern unit and repeat this across the paper.

This work was inspired by Yves Klett, who introduced us several folding patterns during his visit in Finland. Of those patterns we chose waterbomb, because it bends more than one direction and because of its flexibility. We also wanted to show how an ordinary, cheap paper transforms into something that has very different features and look. One of its impressive features is a transformation from a flat accordion into a torus (doughnut).

Folding as a design method and manufacturing technology has many possible applications. E.g. product development in aerospace sector has studied folded cellular structures as an alternative to state-of-the-art materials like honeycomb cores.
The mathematics of the topic have been developed by several people including Eric Demaine, Toshikazu KawasakiTom Hull and Robert Lang. Alex Batemann has written a computer program, to aid the design of these models.

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