We often see origami artists creating eye-catching sculptures as they fold a flat sheet of material using some sculpting techniques. The definitive art with a shade of green has inspired artists, recyclers, fashion designers, homebuilders, and even researchers to include it into their works. Here, we present a list of some eco-creations that make use of origami on a perceptible scale:
• Modular Cardboard Building System:
Bloxes create structures strong enough to stand on, all assembled without tools.
Green Quotient
Mixing origami with architecture, the brand new Bloxes system are 2-dimensional pieces of interlocking cardboard structures that are continually adaptable. More here.
• Ascension: Crane-based, solar-powered installation
Created by LA-based Crimson Collective, Ascension is a giant origami crane that will be installed at the entrance of this year’s Coachella Music Festival.
Green Quotient
The crane is made from modular aluminum tubes and Textilene – a mesh fabric. Standing 45 feet tall with an all-engulfing 150-foot wingspan, it features multi-colored LED lighting that gets power from two adjacent photovoltaic stations.
• Float high-design bed:
Okooko, an eco-friendly mattress and bedroom-furniture company sells high-design beds like Float ($25,000, including the mattress), pictured above. The bed is designed by David Trubridge, a New Zealand designer.
Green Quotient
Float is hand crafted from sustainable harvest New Zealand native Totara; a water resistant timber that requires little maintenance in its natural state. Acrylic fabric finished in Teflon encloses the base and canopy of Float. More here.
• Packaged cardboard structure:
London-based contemporary artist Miwa Takabayashi has designed this origami-inspired, free standing, 10-feet cardboard structure called ‘Packaged’. It was displayed in The Mall at the Chequers Shopping Center in Maidstoneinside two years back.
Green Quotient
The 10 feet high structure serves as a place of refuge for our over-simulated and consumer-driven world. More here.
• Aqua-scape nature-oriented architecture:
The floatable structure blends the aesthetics of origami with the shape of a jellyfish. Dubbed as the Aqua-scape, the masterpiece by Japanese designer Ryumei Fujiki and Tokyo-based Fujiki Studio was last exhibited at The Orangery, and then, it went to the Beam Gallery in the UK.
Green Quotient
The cocoon-like hide out is made from folded polyethylene. The translucent outer membrane has an inner interlaced wire that makes it resistant enough to withstand adverse climatic conditions. More here.
• Cheap Chic recycles toilet paper into wedding gown:
Cheap Chic held a contest asking them to create Toilet Paper Wedding Dresses. The designers responded to the call and came up with some truly stunning and innovative creations.
Green Quotient
The contest is based on the classic wedding shower game where contestants create a gown made of toilet paper, tape and glue to make the blushing bride look gorgeous. This year the prizes were bigger and better than ever. More here.
• LZF Alhambra Lamp:
Designed by Ray Power, the Alhambra lamp is made from thinly extruded transparent polypropylene which is then cut, woven and transformed to give it this amazing origami look.
Green Quotient
Consumers can recycle the spiky, polypropylene domes once they are finished using them. More here.
• Clothes shaped into faces of animals:
Bela Borsodi’s textile origami takes the Japanese art of folding to an entirely new level. She uses various fashion accessories to create a frog, a swan, and other creatures for a spread (entitled “Wild Life”) in Italian Vogue.
Green Quotient
Borsodi’s artistic interpretations boast a zero carbon footprint, since they haven’t been permanently altered. More here.
• Shape-shifting Prada Transformer Building:
Rem Koolhaas collaborated with Prada to design the Transformer, which is a pavilion designed to accommodate an array of cultural programs and functions including art, architecture, film, and fashion.
Green Quotient
Transformer will be built from a steel framed tetrahedron skinned in a plastic membrane. More here.
• Recover Shelter:
Designed for disaster relief, the Recover Shelter can house a family of four for a month. It is made of 100% polypropylene.
Green Quotient
Matthew Malone’s shelter is cheap to produce, easy to transport, reconfigurable, and adaptable to multiple environments. More here.
• Origami-Inspired Folded Solar Panels:
Researchers at MIT hold that solar panels folding in origami-like ways could boost the amount of power they could generate.
Green Quotient
three-dimensional solar panels could in principle absorb more light and generate more power than a flat panel of the same area footprint, which could prove useful in circumstances where the available space is limited. More here.
