Picture of the |
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2010: |
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22nd International Convention of Origami Deutschland |
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Origami Deutschland e.V. at the CREATIVA 2010 trade fair |
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Weihnachtliches Origami |
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Calendar "Pentagon" -
English Version 2010 |
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The Art of Envelope and Letter Folding - Historical letter types and love-letters |
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• Origami is the art of paperfolding. Two skilful hands and a little practice are all you need to make artistically folded objects from a simple sheet of paper: objects decorative, practical and/or imaginative. Scissors and glue are generally taboo. Some models, formed by only a few folds, live on minimalism; others achieve brilliance through their wealth of details formed by the many, many, frequently highly difficult folds.
• Origami (ori = folding, kami = paper), a term for a traditional Japanese art, has developed above all since the middle of the 20th century into an art form of many facets with interdisciplinary potentials. Used as a teaching aid already by the founder of the kindergarten, Friedrich Fröbel (1782-1852), it is today not only a means of recreation and artistic expression but also a helper for science and technology. In his article "The History of Paperfolding - A German Perspective" (pdf-file) David Lister gives a historical survey of origami in German speaking countries.
• Origami helps to illustrate geometrical facts in mathematics, mineralogy and architecture. It is able to answer questions in chemistry and biology: How do leaves and blossoms unfold from buds?. On which structures do macromolecules base? Meanwhile, road maps, air bags in cars or solar panels of satellites are folded according to clever crease patterns found with origami. Origami even has therapeutic uses, for instance after an operation on the hand.
• To experience paperfolding in an origami society is to be astounded by phantastic paper models, to win new friends, to immerse oneself in an unknown world which seems to have no limits. Numerous national and international meetings offer you fun and the opportunity to exchange ideas. The authors of origami models show you their newest creations conceived in many sleepless nights. Under the guidance of experts or with the help of detailed diagrams in origami books, convention booklets or the internet models are presented and copyfolded.
• Origami Deutschland offers its members a regularly published society magazine "der falter" and an annual convention in Germany with participants from all over the world. In addition, there are local meetings of smaller groups of origami enthusiasts throughout the year. This homepage will point to the activities of the society and also report on international origami meetings, exhibitions etc, but especially those in the German speaking countries.
Stefan Delecat
