Origami Masters: Bugs: How the Bug Wars Changed the Art of Origami

186 Pages·2013·27.956 MB·English

by  Marcio Noguchi, Robert Lang, Shuki Kato, Jason Ku, Sebastian Arellano, Won Park, Marc Kirschenbaum, Dan Robinson

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HOW THE BUG WARS CHANGED
THE ART OF ORIGAMI
Introduction by Sherry Gerstein
Illustrations by Marcio Noguchi
With bug models created by:
SEBASTIAN ARELLANO
SHUKI KATO
MARC KIRSCHENBAUM
JASON KU
ROBERT J. LANG
WON PARK
DAN ROBINSON
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The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come
from all over the place: from the sky, from the
earth, from a scrap of paper . . .
–Pablo Picasso
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conTenTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Terms and Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Won Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Flapping Dollar Butterfly . . . . 19
Dollar Dragonfly . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sebastian Arellano . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Bed Bug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Praying Mantis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Marc Kirschenbaum . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Mosquito . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Ladybug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
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Daniel Robinson . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Leaf Insect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Jason Ku . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Rhinoceros Beetle . . . . . . . . . . 83
Luna Moth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Shuki Kato . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Titan Beetle . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Flying Hercules Beetle . . . . . . . 141
Robert J . Lang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Yellow Jacket, opus 624 . . . . . 163
The crease Patterns . . . . . . . . . . 176
About the Illustrator . . . . . . . . 183
credits and Acknowledgements . . 184
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THe Bug WARS
What can you make with a single piece of paper?
Scissors can’t be used, nor can glue. It’s just you, the piece of paper, and the shapes you
11
136 120
make by folding it. So how far can you take it?
21
same
This was essentially the question posed by the informal competition between expert
3 10
paper folders in the 1990s. That competition, which has come to be known as “The Bug
10 Wars,” was an expression of the discovery process and an exploration of technique by paired 9pos-e
the most experienced folders, once they found themselves liberated from the traditional
underpinnings of the ancient art of origami. The discovery that it was possible to create a
10
model with several legs—like an insect, for instance—quite simply transformed origami.
72 85 60
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137 139 122 119
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Until the middle of the 20th century,
all origami models were derived from
just a few standard base patterns. 
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8 Origami Masters: Bugs
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It sounds like a crazy notion because these days, complex origami
models—intricately folded paper interpretations of just about everything,
from spine-studded sea urchins to a complete cuckoo clock—abound.
11 Even though origami is an ancient art, it remained pretty much
136 120
unchanged until the midd2le1 of the 20th century. Models were fairly
simple, and all were derived from a few standard base patterns.
same
3 10
That began to change when Japan’s Akira Yoshizawa developed a system of diagrams and
10 paired 9pos-e
symbols that allowed for the encoding of origami instructions. Considered the father of
modern origami and a prolific creator of new, original models, Yoshizawa wrote books in
the 1940s and 1950s that showed how to fold each step. Suddenly, a craft that had been an
10
72 85 oral tradition6 s0hared by a few could be documented…and shared by many.
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Akira Yoshizawa,
active
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called by many
8
the father of
modern origami
137 139 122 119
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active
44 34
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Introduction 9
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Yoshizawa’s system of symbols was
adopted and refined by Samuel Randlett 20
12 13 11
in the US and Robert Harbin in the UK,
same 22
and word of the ar7t o7f paper folding 1.0000+8% 0.6000+20% 1.0000+8% 64
active+f
began to spread. Some European
countries also had traditional paper
folding crafts and those were shared
as well. It was this cross-fertilization
process that brought fresh thinkers and
ideas to the ancient art, building a new
11
136 120
mindset that would eventually look past
21
the traditional forms.
same
3 10
By the 1970s and 1980s, things reached
Diagrams from an origami book by Samuel Randlett
10 critical mass. Origami societies had paired 9pos-e
sprung up all over—in Japan, the
US, the UK, and Spain, to name a few. While origami still focused on the classical
10
models and techniques of Japan, new models were being created and shared by folders
72 85 60
everywhere. The origami community is nothing if not generous with its knowledge. But 26 0.6000-4%
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the models were still fairly simple, around 30 or so steps at the most. And no one could same
figure out how to use the traditional origami bases to make the ad1d3it5ional fl0ap.s7 t5ha0t0 +20% 15 25 121 0.7500+20%
would allow them to take the art to the next level. active
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8
After initial breakthroughs and innovations made by John Montroll in the US and
Jun Maekawa in Japan, another breakthrough was made: a technique called circle/
river packing. Developed by American folder Robert J. Lang (an origami enthusiast
with 1a 3sc7ientific background) and Japanese fol1d3er9 Toshiyuki Meguro—each working 122 119
24
independently—the work was published in the 1990s. This technique allowed a model
active
44 creator to place any number of circles—which stood in for appendages—within a 34
7
square of paper. It was a brilliant bit of engineering that resulted in the placement of
0.6000-20%
folds in order to create multiple legs, wings, and other appendages right where they
were needed. It also showed origami enthusiasts that they didn’t need to be tied down
by traditional techniques. Instead, those traditional techniques were now the first
important steps toward a new level of art and craft.
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10 Origami Masters: Bugs
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