Using Kirigami Techniques to Make Functional Designs

The variant of origami called kirigami (‘cut paper’ in Japanese) also starts off with a sheet of paper, but it allows for cutting the paper to increase the number of …. Using Kirigami Techniques to Make Functional Designs. It is this technique that [Matthew Lim] used to create several three-dimensional designs that can convert between a flat configuration and some kind of functional object without any bolts, glue or similar.

These include everything from a phone grip to a pretty sizeable side table. The video starts with an interesting demonstration of how to fold an origami crane that has a smaller crane on its back. This is documented in a 1797 book on the many ways to fold a crane, with one of the first known instances where cuts are made in the single sheet of paper, which becomes the second, much smaller crane.

The same book extends that idea into making an origami grid that can fold into a grid of cranes after making a series of cuts. Later this form of origami got the name ‘kirigami’, with the video demonstrating how a few strategic cuts in an original flat shape can make it much more functional, based on scientific papers like this 2024 one by [Liu] et al. On cylindrical origami with tunable mechanical behavior.