Artists
Seri Nishimoto
PhD student
The University of Tokyo
Tokyo, Japan
Statement
I am a PhD student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. I am interested in shapes based on geometric rules and in creating objects that utilize their geometric properties. I have been particularly fascinated by expressing polyhedral surfaces through basketry and weaving techniques. More recently, I have been studying transformable curved surfaces using scissors mechanisms, inspired by the transformation of woven structures.
Artworks
Curved Surface by Repetition of a Single Type of Scissors (4747)
35.0 x 40.0 x 40.0 cm
Polypropylene sheets, brass eyelets, plastic screws
2025
This work is obtained by repeating a scissors unit with an arm length ratio of 4:7.
Tessellating scissors units in a plane forms an overconstrained system, so it cannot generally transform. However, it is known that allowing the mechanism to deform out-of-plane by using elastic materials can lead to various mechanisms that transform out-of-plane through in-plane metric changes. We found that even when repeating the same scissors unit, the structure can achieve 1-DOF transformation and deploy into a nontrivial surface under specific conditions. This work is an example where the scissors units are compatible around a closed loop.
Note that this work is a part of the results of the research with Tomohiro Tachi and Maya Craft.
Curved Surface by Repetition of a Single Type of Scissors (4563)
50.0 x 25.0 x 20.0 cm
Polypropylene sheets, brass eyelets, plastic screws
2025
This is a curved surface mechanism obtained by repeating a scissors unit with four different arm lengths (The arm length ratios are 4:5:6:3).