Archive for the ‘design’ Category
Current and Future Exhibitions October 13th, 2007
I recently shipped 5 pieces to Vancouver for an upcoming exhibition at the Pendulum Gallery, coinciding with the PCOC 2007 convention. Much of it is new work, representing some new folding concepts and ideas that I have been exploring lately.
Night Creature, 2007
Odd Man Out, 2007
Printemps, 2007
Pecten Magellanicus, 2007
Vertebral Stretch, 2007
I also have a number of pieces on display at the Treasures of Origami Art exhibition at the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art in Haifa, Israel. This wonderful exhibition was the product of much hard work and planning by Dr. Saadya Sternberg, who was kind enough to ask me to participate.
The Tikotin exhibition is currently open, and will be running until December 2007. The Pendulum Gallery exhibition will be from October 29 - November 10, 2007, in Vancouver, Canada.
Something I mentioned to my wife the other day- I have yet to participate in any gallery or museum exhibitions here in the United States! I hope to have a show in my hometown of Minneapolis some day soon, but so far I seem to spend most of my time shipping my creations abroad. At least I’m getting much better at filling out customs paperwork!
-Eric
Posted in art, design, flickr photos, my work, origami, origami tessellations, paper | Comments (1)
Kirigami Book by Jeff Rutzky now available! September 6th, 2007
Our good friend Jeff Rutzky recently wrapped up a book on kirigami, which is packaged in a delightful boxed kit. It’s now available at Barnes & Noble stores, as well as online at bn.com.
Kirigami: Exquisite Projects to Fold and Cut (bn.com)
We’re particularly fond of this book because it features some pieces by my wife Bekah as well a piece inspired by some of my tessellation ideas. I’ve talked about Bekah’s kirigami work previously; she has been very pleased about the opportunity to contribute to Jeff’s book.
It also features work from some of my favorite paper artists, including Paul Jackson, Chris Palmer, Christiane Bettens, Ingrid Siliakus, Fernando Sierra, Jen Stark, and many more.
I think perhaps my favorite feature of the book was the quantity of art included- as motivational and inspirational examples of what is out there in the world of paper cutting. I can honestly say that it opened my eyes to some things I had never even thought possible.
Congratulations on the book release Jeff!
Posted in art, design, geometry, paper | Comments (5)
Coudal Partners Swap Meat July 21st, 2007
So, I’ve been a fan of Coudal Partners for quite some time now- circling back to their site every time I dig through my bookmarks and then spending a day browsing through all the content and links they have.
I recently learned from my friend Jeff Rutzky (happy birthday Jeff, by the way) that they’re not just a wonderful site, but this powerful and brilliant ad agency in Chicago. Oops. I suppose I should have figured that one out more quickly, especially when they were so nice to link to me way back in 2005. Live and learn, right?
Well, Coudal had people sending in things to them all the time, unsolicited. You know how much fun it is to get packages you aren’t expecting, don’t you? It’s kind of like a grown-up version of Christmas, but without any family awkwardness or having to buy gifts for kids. It’s a tiny little moment of self-gratification as you tear into the Fedex box and wonder what sort of goodies are inside.
They decided to expand on this, and started swapping out items sent to them with other items sent to them- so they got to have their pseudo-Christmas fun, and then spread the joy with others too. I like this idea a lot, enough so that I will be sending something in to them shortly, once I figure out what it is that I should be sending in. (Here’s a hint: it’s most likely made of paper. Guesses, anyone?)
But then I was further enlightened to know that some of my origami friends have already been doing this- see nifty items from Jeff and Vanessa Gould (of Green Fuse Films fame, home of the Exploring Origami documentary project):
Crown Hall Kirigami, from Jeff Rutzky
Color Wheel Kusudama, from Vanessa Gould
Also, the folks at Coudal are behind Jewelboxing.com, a really slick method for making jewelboxed CD/DVD cases and inserts/labels/etc. I saw that Jeff and Vanessa had connected together to make some cases for her “Exploring Origami” demo, using none other than Joel Cooper’s mask images for the cover!
It’s just an odd thing how different people and places you know seem to connect together in unexpected ways. I’m always surprised when I find things like this- “I know that person- and that person! they’re both here on this site! who knew?”
I’m hoping some of you other creators out there send something in to Coudal Partners as well; I’d love to see them swamped with fantastic paper artwork all at once.
-Eric
Posted in art, design, origami, paper | Comments (3)
Yoshi - Paper Artist from Venezuela July 5th, 2007
Today, I came across the most amazing paper artist on flickr- Yoshi, from Venezuela. Very much into the pleating and corrugating way of things, he has some marvelous pieces of work on display; please go and visit, and admire some of this work.
He has this to say:
I’m a self-taught guy who often works folding, drawing or cutting paper, which is my favorite and, almost, exclusive media. I’m practicing this since I was six years old (now I’m 29), first as a hobby and, three years ago, as my way for living. Some of my sorts of inspiration are the geometrical patterns used for sacred decoration in India and the Islam world. In my work (paper folding, kiri-e and drawing) I have three fields of investigation: arts (mural decorations & photos), industrial design (lamps and other utilitary objects) and fashion (dresses and accessories), where arts are the most important, an the other two provide me with practice and some knowledge.
South America truly has some of the best and brightest of the paper artists in the world. Every time I find another gifted creator it convinces me further that I need to plan a visit to Colombia and Venezuela (and don’t forget all the tessellators in Chile!)
My apologies for the huge photo post here, but I wanted to share so many of these images with you. This is only a taste!
I’m particularly interested in learning about his molding and casting processes… I hope to learn more soon.
-Eric Gjerde
(Ray and Polly, this post is for you!)
There are also some additional images done by my flickr contact Liu Prato:
Posted in art, design, flickr photos, origami, origami tessellations | Comments (12)
Laser-cut art book by Olafur Eliasson May 8th, 2007
Artist Olafur Eliasson created this piece, a laser-cut negative space rendering of his house in 85:1 scale:
It’s made of 454 slices, bound together in a book. Apparently it was quite a difficult process to put together, due to the complex constraints that were put upon the paper. From what I understand it was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
The folks that produced the book are a laser-cutting house that specializes in paper-cutting, called Visionen in Papier (Visions in Paper). I’m actually even more interested in what they are capable of doing, and the kinds of services they provide- check out some of their other examples of their work.
As this piece combines books, paper cutting, laser cutters, architecture, and paper making, it hits a broad area of things I really enjoy- so I pass it along to you, readers, in the hope you find it interesting as well.
(All images copyright www.kremo.de)
Link from Бунт Архитекторов!, my favorite Russian website!
Posted in art, design, paper | Comments (21)
Origami Tessellations: The Book April 30th, 2007
An alert Flickr friend let me know that my book appeared on Amazon.com:
Origami Tessellations: Fantastic Paper Geometry
I’m interested to see it listed, although it’s still in the final stages of layout and all that fun stuff. The “cover” shown is not the final one, but just the mock-up created for the catalog; I don’t know yet what the final cover will look like.
The final ship date is earlier than Jan 1, 2008- I hope, anyway- but nevertheless it’s not that far away, considering how much work still remains to be done on the publisher’s side of things.
Here’s the blurb text from Amazon, which (I’m guessing) is something that was written for the catalog that Lark sends out to all prospective purchasers.
Tessellations—shapes repeated over and over to fill a plane without overlapping—have inspired beautiful art, from intricate tile work to M.C. Escher’s playful graphics. Now, master origami artist Eric Gjerde has produced the same stunning kaleidoscopic patterns simply by folding paper! His awe-inspiring collection—the first of its kind—explores the creative possibilities of origami tessellations. The techniques will captivate anyone interested in papercrafting, mathematics, architecture, and design. Gjerde meticulously walks you through all the key folds and creases. Twenty-five projects are organized by complexity, beginning with the easy-to-learn Tiles Hexagon Tessellation and continuing to more exotic designs, like Arms of Shiva, Field of Stars, and Aztec Twist. Each one appears in extremely close-up photos—sometimes backlit—and an inspiring gallery of breathtaking tessellations by origami artists concludes the book.
So, things are moving along. This is the first visibly tangible evidence I have seen that this whole experience is actually real; it’s kind of strange, to be honest with you. I think when I hold the final result in my hands it’s going to be a very odd moment indeed.
-Eric
(PS: the amazon link is an affiliate thing, I don’t normally get all fired up about that sort of setup. However, I hope you don’t mind me referring my own book. Thanks!)
Posted in art, design, diagrams, geometry, my work, origami, origami tessellations, paper, weblinks | Comments (5)
Nishimura Yuko Show at Keiko Gallery in Boston MA April 28th, 2007
I received an email from KEIKO Gallery in Boston, letting me know about an upcoming show for Nishimura Yuko (or Yuko Nishimura, in Western name styling.)
The Exhibition is from May 5, 2007 to May 27, 2007; there is an opening reception on May 5th from 3PM to 6PM. If you’re in Boston or anywhere *near* Boston I most highly suggest you make an effort to see this show! Her artwork is absolutely stunning, and I never can see enough of it- I regret that I am unable to make the trip out to Boston just to see this, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if I could.
Detailed information about the exhibition can be found here:
http://keikogallery.com/nishimura_exhi.html
Nishimura Yuko was awarded notable prizes for her innovative paper reliefs while still a student of architectural design at Nihon University in Tokyo. Using her skilled fingers as her tools, she transforms crisp, single white sheets of Japanese hand made paper into two dimensional panels and three dimensional objects that are filled with lyrical and rhythmic patterns comparable to music. Even the most subtle play of light across these intricate folded surfaces endows them with an unusual energy and excites the senses.
Beginning with a single folded line, the constantly changing length of each subsequent fold determines the final square, circular or oval patterns that sweep across the surfaces of her large scale reliefs. Nishimura says that these folded surfaces allow her to project the play of light and shadow into physical space and free her to express her feelings about space more fully.
KEIKO
121 Charles Street
Boston, MA 02114
617-725-2888
Posted in art, design, origami, origami tessellations, paper, profiles | Comments (2)
Design Work of Yu-Chih Hsiao April 26th, 2007
I’ve long been a fan of Yu-Chih Hsiao, who makes a seemingly endless array of fantastic designs. What appeals to me most is the broad array of concepts that he pulls together and uses. I don’t like comparing people to others, but his work reminds me of Thomas Heatherwick mixed together with a whole lot of kirigami goodness (and that’s a wonderful thing!)
Take a minute to look through some of his designs - there’s all sorts of ideas and concepts there, definitely something that will spur the imagination.
There’s a lot that can be said, but I’ll let the pictures do the talking instead.
-Eric
Beautiful stuff, isn’t it?
Posted in art, design, geometry, profiles | Comments (2)
The Institute For Figuring // Online Exhibit: Mathematical Paper Folding April 23rd, 2007
I am in love with The Institute for Figuring. If you’re at all interested in geometric art, tessellations, chaos, fractals, or really anything- you should become a member. It’s highly worthwhile.
Crocheted Hyperbolic Plane, copyright IFF
From their website:
The Institute For Figuring is an educational organization dedicated to enhancing the public understanding of figures and figuring techniques. From the physics of snowflakes and the hyperbolic geometry of sea slugs, to the mathematics of paper folding and graphical models of the human mind, the Institute takes as its purview a complex ecology of figuring.
It’s like someone took EVERYTHING out there that I find interesting, and wrapped it up into a non-profit with a cool website, publications, and speaking events! Fantastic stuff.
To whet your appetite, there’s a rather good article on mathematical paper folding on their site currently:
The Institute For Figuring // Online Exhibit: Mathematical Paper Folding
Enjoy!
Posted in art, design, geometry, math, origami, weblinks | Comments (3)
Some origami links and inspiration April 18th, 2007
Been very quiet here as I wrangle some personal and professional monsters. More frequent posting will resume soon. Look for a good writeup on up-and-coming paper artist Jen Stark shortly!
Reposting this short list- it was something I sent to the Origami Mailing List a week ago. Some nice things to admire, and/or be inspired by (or make yourself!)
-Eric
————
Not all just origami, but also some paper art and folding architecture things too. The list has been rather quiet lately so here’s some things to look at.
http://revistagalileu.globo.com/EditoraGlobo/componentes/article/edg_article_print/1,3916,516776-2680-1,00.html
A nice article on the mathematics of origami, in Portuguese
http://www.gailbarlow.com/sculptures1.html
Wonderful paper sculptures (lots of sliceforms!) by Gail Barlow (thanks to J. Rutzky for the link)
http://www.foldschool.com
Free foldable cardboard furniture designs for kids
http://www.orangevoid.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=36
Fantastic tessellated membrane, mechanically controlled for architectural purposes (I dream about this sort of stuff, and here it is in real life!)
http://community.livejournal.com/ru_pop_up/32317.html
Some very nice tessellations on a russian paper architecture site- great curved pieces
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/11/how_to_use_furo.html
great PDF from Japan on Furoshiki, cloth gift wrapping - with lots of styles illustrated
http://www.polyscene.com/
the artwork of Polly Verity, an amazingly gifted paper artist in the UK
http://web.mit.edu/optics/www/origami.htm
Nanostructured origami fabrication and assembly - some great promise here
http://www.origami.no/gallery_menu.htm
gallery of origamic / paper architecture pieces, a wide variety
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83855901@N00/
some new works by Joan Michaels Paque - enormous wall-sized sculptures
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67861823@N00/
Many, many photos of waterbomb-based tessellations, by Ben Parker - tantalizingly part of a lengthy tutorial / write-up
Posted in art, creative commons, design, flickr photos, origami, origami tessellations | Comments (2)