Uyen Nguyen
Origami is my greatest passion. I created my first designs by experimenting with freehand folds on paper and seeing if I liked the results. My current work now involves precise calculations, and I generate the crease patterns for my designs on a computer. Mathematics, science, nature, and color theory serve as inspiration for all my works. I love all things bright and colorful, and paper is a great medium to express that love.
I studied the origami mechanics of antiprism columns, also known as triangulated cylinders, while doing research for the Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics at Cornell University. This handmade leather handbag can change sizes to accommodate a user’s needs throughout the day. In its flattest configuration, it can hold a cell phone and wallet, and in the larger configurations it can hold a jacket and much more. Each segment of the antiprisms bag is bistable, which allows for the changing shape and sizes. The angles were calculated to make the entire structure flat-foldable and have the corners of the octagonal segments align perfectly when in the flat configuration. Model: Soukie Dia, Product Photos: Christopher Bierlein
I folded this as part of a challenge to myself to post a new daily creation in the early days of the pandemic. As the world went on lockdown, I wanted to give people something to do from home, so each post included a crease pattern for anyone to attempt. This piece was designed using the algorithm presented in the paper, "Folding Functions: Origami Corrugations from Equations", by myself, Ben Fritzson, and Marcus Michelen. It models the equation of a hyperbola with a chain of uniform rhombi approximating the curve. The creases forming the angle bisectors of the rhombi cause the overall structure to approximate a saddle or hyperbolic paraboloid. Being a hyperbola on a hyperbolic paraboloid, I called it A Doubly Hyper Design.