Modular Origami

This origami is near impossible to assemble.

Many Sides...

Stellated Icosahedron

An origami stellated icosahedron I made out of thirty sheets of tiny origami paper, using the Sonobe module and this website for origami polyhedra.

Not all origami has to be made out of one piece of paper, however. When origami was brought to South America from Spain, a new style arose. As stated on the previous page, the Moors' religion prohibited them from making animal forms and they focused on geometric shapes instead. But flat shapes soon got boring, and the making of 3D shapes out of 2D paper was very limited. So they experimented with putting several sheets together, and modular origami arose. Meanwhile, back in Japan, paperfolders thought they had mastered all of the different ways to fold paper. And then they were proved wrong. Mitsunobu Sonobe created the Sonobe module and opened the door for thousands of possibilities. The Sonobe module can be interlocked with other modules in many ways, each of which gives rise to its own design. Modular origami is made of several pieces of paper, all folded in the same shape. These are called modules. These modules are then joined together to made one large shape, sometimes a star, a geodesic sphere (a sphere made out of tessellating triangles), and several other polyhedra. Although the net result of these origami is absolutely stunning, the process of making a countless number of modules is quite tedious and tiring. There is a creative side to origami, but modular origami falls a bit short of creative. I like to call it the mechanical side of origami. Nevertheless, I think that this style of origami is very fun, if you have the time.

...to each creation

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