News: Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Eric Gjerde is a master of origami who devotes much of his energy on origami tessellations. Some of his pieces fold nearly flat, forming layers that add just a hint of depth. These pieces look beautiful when lit from behind, due to the variations in brightness and color. Other pieces utilize three dimensions more fully, with repeated structures rising out of the flat page.

He has a fantastic Flickr photostream and a great website where you can see thousands of images and descriptions. Below is just some of his magnificent work. He even has some crease patterns for those of you ambitious enough to try and recreate his work.

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

Math Craft Inspiration of the Week: The Origami Tessellations of Eric Gjerde

What do you think of Erik's origami? Does anything in this post inspire you? Comment below.

Have a great weekend and if you create any math-related art, please share with all of us on the Math Craft corkboard. I hope to share community content in a post on Monday.

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22 Comments

i think lots of it are variations off of the magic ball origami, its a great idea, and i want to learn how to make this. Please post a how to on this!!!

Ok. Sounds cool. I think I've made the magic ball or something similar. I know I've done something like the last piece which is called the waterbomb tessellation. It will probably be a few weeks until I feel like doing origami again. It's a lot of work!

ive been doing a lot of things like this, its really fun to mind blow your friends, another cool one, does not look as cool but is called the Spring into Action, i made like 10 of these, its really hard to make and fun to play with

I tried to make that once back before I had done any origami at all...I wasn't successful. I'll have to try it again now!

Do you know what would shoot this world to the top of the list? A full how to on the Kamiya's Ryu-zin, The problem i have with making this is that although i think im skilled enough to be able to make one of these, i have a very difficult time on how to read the folding diagrams. If you could find someone to make a how to on how to do this... (warn them that the sped up video might take about 40 minutes) I think that this world will go up just because of the sheer number of other people on the internet trying to do the same thing i am

@ gaveat 123... the Kamiya's Ryu-zin looks complicated. you should post some of your work to the corkboard... am curious to see.

Well, ill try, but i might not be able to post too much, bogged down by hw

Amazing! I too would like to see a how-to. That pineapple and the dollar are amazing!

Looks like there's a consensus! We'll have to look at some origami tessellations in the future.

I've done that one with the dollar!

Cool! Do you still remember how to make it or where you learned how to make it?

I learned it from an online site, but all I remember is that you have to fold a lot of little triangles. I'll try to search for it!

Cool. I've done a little bit of dollar bill origami...but this seems pretty detailed. Neat models. I guess we'll have to look a bit more to find diagrams and instructions for the hexagon tessellation.

@cerek whoa. the first image of the flying guy is awesome.

Hi all- a lot of the above models are available in my book, "Origami Tessellations: Awe-Inspiring Geometric Designs", which can be found on Amazon, in Barnes and Noble, and via other booksellers worldwide.

Origami Tessellations are particularly math-focused origami, involving a lot of geometry skills. I've had a lot of math teachers and professors interested in the book over the last few years, and I hope you'll take a look too!

Here's the book on Amazon.com.

-Eric Gjerde

Does it have the second to last picture in it? I'm seriously considering to get this book...

me, too. the work is stunning!!!

@ Eric... it'd be awesome if you posted some of your work to the corkboard. .. stuff that might not already be online! ;)

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