Paper recycling - the origami art

Origami (from oru which means "folding", and kami "paper") is the Japanese traditional art of paper folding. This art aims to create the representation of an object using geometric folding or crumpling, preferably without cutting the paper or using glue, with a single sheet of paper.

There's a lot of speculation about the origami origins -- however, it's fair to say that its further development happened in Japan, with a strong tradition in China, Germany and Spain, among other countries.

Origami occupied an important place at Japanese history making part of some kinds of tradition with a deep meaning inside this culture. The Samurais adorned little gifts with little paper strips to offer good wishes and, at weddings, the groom and the bride are represented by paper butterflies made in origami.

In the 1960s, the Origami art started spreading out -- the modular origami first and other movements later, including kirigami - the cutting paper art.

On these days, Origami is an international movement. That's the case of the Turkish Emre Ayaroğlu and his amazing works. Watch some examples...

You can read some articles published at Obvious about Kirigami, in particular: "masahiro chatani", "arquitecture made with paper", for example. Take a look at the related articles.