blog/2021-08-01-origami-model-naming

[utterances-bot]

Naming Origami Models - Origami by Michał Kosmulski

In this blogpost I suggest new terms useful for the discussion of origami model naming, and present naming conventions from different artists, including myself.

https://origami.kosmulski.org/blog/2021-08-01-origami-model-naming

[HansDybkjaer]

This is a great and extensive terminological article. Thanks for a clear and useful exposition.

A couple of comments:

• "The model known as fortune teller in English is also known (in English!) under the unrelated name cootie catcher": I see the fortune teller, the cootie catcher, and the salt cellar (Fröbelian name) as three different tools or models that happen to have the same physical realisation, rather than three names for the same model.
  • A tool for telling fortunes (which must be painted in a certain way).
  • A tool for (playfully) catching fleas, cooties, in your class mates' hair.
  • A tool for containing salt and pepper on the lunch table.

This happens with other models as well. For instance, the design for a box is often reused, perhaps with a slight variation, as a lid for that box. That the lid is a separate model, can be seen in that you may re-use the lid design as a lid for a completely different box that just happens to have the same geometric outline.

This relates to your notes on 'interpretations' of a model, like the cube vs kaaba, or perhaps better, kaaba vs DR Koncerthuset since these are at the same semantic level.

• "Most origami designs can, and do, get folded multiple times": Maybe, just maybe, if you mean because you as a designer tries the design multiple times in different variations. But certainly not by different people.
  • Most designs by me have been folded by me only and never left my house (or the meeting during which I invented them: my meeting doodles).
  • Yoshizawa is known for having designed thousands of models, yet only a few handfuls have ever been published.
  • Danish origami artist Simon Andersen filled his house with unique origami models during the year, and on a Mikael's Day he would burn them all and start over again.
  • And you yourself write "I have dozens if not hundreds of designs which I have not yet folded cleanly or published". I recognise the "cleanly" option: Most designs I do, never get beyond the first attempt.

Best regards, Hans

Hans Dybkjær, papirfoldning.dk