Paul Salomon and Justin Lanier

Teachers of Math and Mathematical Art
Saint Ann's School
Brooklyn, NY
As mathematicians and artists, we play with fascinating, surprising, and delightful questions and ideas. As math teachers and bloggers, we try to show off the wonders of the mathematical world. And in creating our movies, we've done a little of both.
Yoshimoto Shorts
Yoshimoto Shorts
00:01:33
Produced by Paul Salomon and Justin Lanier; music by Jon Brion
2012
"Yoshimoto Shorts" is a pair of stop-motion animations made to show off the wonderful properties of the Yoshimoto cube. In the first film, "Yoshimoto Friends," a pair of seemingly distinct objects -- a cube and a star -- meet and begin to interact. Through their dance, we see the magic of the Yoshimoto cube and learn that these shapes are not so different after all! After making the first movie, our cubes fell quickly apart, as the taped hinges wore and tore. To fix this problem, Paul designed a one-sheet paper model for a Yoshimoto cube with built-in paper hinges. "Yoshimoto Bug," our second short, features this design as it comes to life and folds itself.