Goran Konjevod

“Simple bowl (32)”

One folded square sheet of paper, 5" x 5" x 4", 2006.



This is one of the simplest pieces in my ongoing series of bowls formed by pleat tessellations. Every fold is a straight line segment parallel to an edge of the square sheet, and no fold is ever undone. The curved surface is purely a result of the intrinsic tension in the sheet of paper trying to unfold itself. This simple bowl is constructed by using alternating pairs of vertical and horizontal pleats, from the edges toward the center.


“Wave (32)”

One folded square sheet of paper, 10" x 10" x 5", 2006.
First prize





The wave is one of the pleat tessellations that continues to amaze me even years after I first folded it. The peculiar symmetry and the tension caused by locking the edges causes two of its corners to bulge in opposite directions, while the remaining two corners remain fairly flat. As in the simple bowl, the pleat sequences all begin at the edges and proceed towards the center of the sheet, but the difference is that all horizontal pleats are oriented the same way, and similarly all the vertical pleats.



Goran Konjevod, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering Department, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

" I try to fold 'organic' origami, studying the natural tension in a folded sheet of paper and how it leads to the final shape. Most of my work uses only the simplest folds. Working with, instead of against, the thickness of paper, allows my regular or irregular folding sequences to shape curved surfaces and lines. Many of these pieces are discovered rather than designed, even though I often start by imagining a shape and only then finding a folding sequence that creates tension in the places necessary to achieve the preconceived shape.

My pleat tessellations are formed by sequences of pleats whose interaction causes theoretically flat folds to curve. There isn't always a repetition of a pattern, or even a regular plane division, yet the term tessellation seems proper for these pieces. "


Art: goran.konjevod@gmail.com
Academic: goran@asu.edu
Art: http://organicorigami.com
Academic: http://thrackle.eas.asu.edu