And the completed Ron Resch Barbell tessellation. First try, but seeing it emerge from the folds was neat.

Ron Resch had beautiful ideas about tessellations and architecture, making amazing contributions through his explorations. An artist unafraid of math or computers.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In progress. Pre-creased paper is like a sandbox of endless possibilities. Tessellations use squares or triangles as starting points. Bristol board makes surprisingly sturdy forms. I'll keep working with thicker papers.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

And a bit of process.

To give a sense of the depth.

This is my first attempt at the Miura-ori pattern. It’s created on a substrate of folds that allows for a lot of customization/creativity so I’m excited to explore it further in the future. The Miura pattern was used for solar panels on a Japanese satellite.

One of the most amazing things about folding is that you can make a flat sheet want to curve with just a few folds. Here I’m using a series of simple folds to create a hyperbolic parabola. This technique is used to fold up solar panels and shades in satellites and space telescopes. 1/2

I wanted to try some new techniques for tessellations. It’s my first time using a non square sheet and using a bone scorer, rather than folding by hand. I’m also using craft paper, which I can cut to any length and which is a little less precious. This pattern could be used to wrap around objects.

I tried (and failed) at a hexagonal tessellation. This was my first time using Japanese washi paper made from mulberry bush. The paper is strong and can withstand the large number of folds required for this type of tessellation. Sometimes failure is lovely too. I’ll try again soon.

A neat find. As a kid, I dove headfirst into HyperCard and still find its design influences my systems. HyperTalk was the first language where I *really* understood what programming could do. 💙

This time I wanted to try a flat tessellation by Eric Gjerde. This form takes a 15x15 divided square and compresses it into a 9x9 space using tilted squares.

Today, I’m working on tessellations. This one is by Eric Gjerde. In this type of origami, you pre-fold everything, then gently shape it, letting some forms rise as ‘mountains’ and others sink as ‘valleys.’ I nearly gave up but took a break and came back with a clearer understanding.

One of the neat things about Haga’a designs is you do all of the folds first on the full sheet of paper and assemble in a single grand, often difficult folding step.

Today’s shape was a tough one: a single-sheet tetrahedron. It was created by Kazuo Haga, a retired biology teacher turned mathematician and origamist. His folds are notoriously difficult, often skipping steps you must intuit, requiring a deep understanding of how the shape comes together.

Origami instructions are an exercise in information compression and attention. All the information you need is there, but are you paying close enough attention and seeing everything you need to see? This is an icosohedron step from one of my childhood books that was extremely challenging.

14 years ago, in grad school in LA, I filmed Mulholland with a camera suctioned to my car. I later rotoscoped the yellow road line into a minimal art piece inspired by David Lynch. His film Mulholland Drive was one I watched often. Lynch has been a lifelong inspiration, and I’ll miss him.

As a child, I was obsessed with origami: transforming a simple square of paper into complex forms without cutting. It likely sparked my love for programming. Lately, I’ve revisited my childhood origami books. This is modular origami: 12 units form a wireframe cube.