---
title: Origami
description: Origami is the art of folding paper into forms without cutting or glue. You will learn standard bases and folds, how to read diagrams and crease patterns, modular and tessellation techniques, and the mathematics behind modern origami design.
category: trades-crafts
subcategory: specialty-crafts
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/origami
---

# Origami

Origami is the art of folding paper into forms without cutting or glue. You will learn standard bases and folds, how to read diagrams and crease patterns, modular and tessellation techniques, and the mathematics behind modern origami design.

## Available Resources

3 Books • 1 Courses

## Courses

### 1. Geometric Folding Algorithms: Linkages, Origami, Polyhedra (MIT 6.849)

**Author:** Erik Demaine

MIT graduate course on the mathematics and algorithms of folding: flat-foldability, crease pattern design, tree method, box pleating, rigid origami, linkages and polyhedra. It includes full lecture videos, class videos, notes and problem sets with solutions.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-849-geometric-folding-algorithms-linkages-origami-polyhedra-fall-2012/

**Tags:** computational-origami, folding-algorithms, computational-geometry, linkages, polyhedra

## Books

### 1. Origami Design Secrets: Mathematical Methods for an Ancient Art (2nd Edition)

**Author:** Robert J. Lang

A 770-page treatment of how to design original origami models. It moves from basic building blocks to uniaxial bases, the circle/river packing method, tree theory and box pleating, and includes folding instructions for 26 models.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568814364?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** origami-design, tree-theory, circle-packing, box-pleating, mathematics

### 2. Origami Tessellations: Awe-Inspiring Geometric Designs

**Author:** Eric Gjerde

Introduction to origami tessellations with 25 projects. It covers grid pre-creasing, twist folds and repeating pleat patterns, and presents each design with step-by-step instructions, illustrated crease patterns and photographs, so readers learn to fold from crease patterns.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1568814518?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** origami, tessellations, crease-patterns, geometric-folding, pleat-folding

### 3. Origami Omnibus: Paper Folding for Everybody

**Author:** Kunihiko Kasahara

Collection of 174 origami designs across every genre, from simple traditional models to complex ones, in 384 pages of hand-drawn diagrams. It also covers geometric and aesthetic theory, early crease patterns and practice in reading standard diagram notation. This is the classic diagram-literacy book: it builds bases and diagram reading across all skill levels. I

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/4817090014?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** origami, origami-diagrams, traditional-origami, origami-bases, paper-folding

## Youtubes

### 1. Origami with Jo Nakashima

**Author:** Jo Nakashima

YouTube channel with more than 600 step-by-step folding tutorials, from simple traditional models to complex designs. Each video shows every fold close up. It works as the practical entry point before learning to read written diagrams.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://www.youtube.com/@jonakashima

**Tags:** origami, video-tutorials, paper-folding, origami-models

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