Pinwheel tessellation, version 2 Originally uploaded by Ori-gomi. A newer, more interesting variant on a previous design, folded from white unryu. In the first version of this design, I had used a strange little squashed-triangle fold with an extra side flap as a way of filling a triangular hole between the spokes of the individual pinwheels. this closed the space, but left the pattern somewhat lopsided, as the various hexagonal twist points were unable to “rotate” in a clean direction (other than the central one). If the spokes of the pinwheel had been clean diamond shapes instead of an elongated parallelogram, it would have tiled cleanly, with hexagonal twists interconnected by triangular twists. due to the extra pleat length on the tiles, this didn’t work on the old design. However, on the newer variant, I found that the triangular hole I was dealing with was the same as one Jane found a while back: topside here reverse here you’ll notice that triangular void? she came up with an elegant workaround using a 3d single-spaced triangle …

A foldable origami-style bag by Ferry Meewisse. So I was perusing through the wonderful photo galleries at Core77.com from all these different design competitions and shows, looking for examples of folded furniture, clothing, houses, and other fun bits. And I came across this hexagonal folding origami-inspired purse, from Dutch Design Week 2005 ( Designprijzen 05 ). It’s doubly interesting to me, as Phil over at The Fitful Flog published a crease pattern for a very similar looking wallet based on the same shape and folding scheme. Not that they are related in any way, but just the odd coincidence of two people creating the identical shape both for the purpose of holding personal items- it’s funny. Regardless, the origami purse certainly costs some absurd amount of money costs a reasonable 60 euros, whereas the origami wallet-fold design is free under a Creative Commons license! [via]

This tiling is really just causing me mental anguish. I’m trying to find an elegant way to fold it, and it’s just not happening so far. (click the photo for a larger version) Totally open to suggestions or hints from crowd on this one. it’s really interesting looking, too… what I have folded so far is fascinating (to me, anyway). I’d really like to find a way to make it go the distance.

Here are two PDF documents, with square regions that have a triangular grid array on them. The grid is formed the same way that you would create one via precreasing, so it’s relatively similar to what you would see on a sheet of origami paper. The first one has a very large grid; the second one has a fine, small grid. both are useful, just for different things. These are newer versions, with the opacity of the grid lines turned down to only 20%; so hopefully if you draw on them with pencil or pen, your drawing will show up much more easily. The PDFs retain the layering and editing information, so if you also have a vector graphics program capable of editing such documents then feel free to tweak these to your heart’s content. download page. Released by Eric Gjerde Under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license. Some Rights Reserved. www.origamitessellations.com

Ha-Ori Shelter From the SAFE: Design Takes on Risk exhibit at MoMA comes this wonderful folding structure called the “Ha-Ori Shelter”. Made by Joerg Student from IDEO, it looks much like a folding, tessellated ger (or yurt). Given that I’m fascinated by both of these topics, this little collapsible hut is very appealing. Here’s the quote from the IDEO page: Ha-Ori Shelter This ingenious and elegant temporary shelter was designed and constructed by IDEOer Joerg Student as a project for the Industrial Design Engineering program at the Royal College of Art in London. Stemming from Student’s exploration of a folding technique inspired by the leaves of a hornbeam tree, the Ha-Ori (Japanese for “folding leaf”) shelter is constructed from corrugated polypropylene that has been folded in a series of trapezoidal shapes to create a rigid structure. When open, the shelter has a diameter of 12.5 ft and a height of 8.5 ft. When folded, the Ha-Ori measures 8.8 ft x 1.5 ft for easy transport. See more items from the SAFE exhibit at Core77.com: Core77 …