The Culture Swap
Influence of Japanese Origami in Western Design
One of the many interesting aspects of Stanford’s D.school is its wide array of cardboard furniture, sourced from a company called Chairigami. The chairs are made out of folded corrugated cardboard, and the company’s name acknowledges its inspiration, Japanese origami.
Origami, the Japanese art of folding paper, began in the Edo Period from about 1603–1867, and since then it has influenced design all over the world in the realms of architecture, product design, and research. While traditional origami uses paper to create intricate art such as the paper crane, western designers have applied this concept of intricate folding to other materials. For example, the Oru Kayak uses “origami technology” and corrugated plastic in order to create a folding kayak for people on-the-go.
In addition, origami has influenced science and research today. For example, the Foldscope is a paper microscope that was created “to break down the price barrier between people & the curiosity and excitement of scientific exploration!”(foldscope.com)
These are some of the many ways that Japanese Origami has influenced western design today.
