Darryl Bedford

Title: Beyond Origami: Structure, Kinetics, Aesthetics and Biomimicry

As a paper engineer and artist, Darryl Bedford is captivated by the space where traditional origami techniques merge with the power of digital design and how the incorporation of strategically placed cuts, impact on structure. This unique blend allows him to craft kinetic sculptures that celebrate both the intricate beauty of the natural world and the wonders of modern technology.

Darryl Bedford’s inspiration comes from the mesmerizing realm of radiolarians, microscopic ocean beings with stunning complexity and movement. Through his work, Darryl Bedford translate their ethereal essence into captivating structures, often incorporating elements of performance and videography to further enhance their otherworldly feel. However, Darryl Bedford’s passion extends beyond mere aesthetics. He is drawn to the meditative and therapeutic nature of paper folding, believing it has the power to reconnect us with the natural world.

Darryl Bedford has had the privilege of exhibiting his work internationally, showcasing it in Australia, the UK, and the US.  His artistic exploration has even landed him a spot on BBC TV's "Kirstie's Handmade Christmas". Recent projects have involved a successful fashion runway and an exhibit at Milan's prestigious Salone del Mobile.

He is also committed to pushing the boundaries of this art form, continuously seeking new and innovative ways to extend and apply origami with particular emphasis on structure, kinetics and aesthetics.

Presentation Description:

Darryl's presentation will explore the intersection of artistry, innovation, and therapeutic application in paper engineering. The artist, a multidisciplinary educator, and paper engineer, draws inspiration from microscopic organisms and Ernst Haeckel, pushing the boundaries of paper art by blending origami and kirigami techniques. Techniques such as pleated origami and surface decoration are combined with functionality, creating structures with both form and movement. Practical applications range from objects to sculptures, with a focus on visual spatial processing and exploration in the design process. Showcase projects include fashion, performance art, soft robotics, and practical decor. Additionally, the presentation will delve into the healing power of paper, exploring its benefits in therapy through the development of therapy toys using Drawstring Origami. Finally, Darryl will discusse his recognition and impact, including his social media reach and audience engagement.

Yan Chen

Title: Modular Origami: Kinematics and Metamaterials

Professor Yan Chen received her D. Phil. from University of Oxford in 2004. She is currently a Chair Professor in Tianjin University. Her research focuses on the kinematics of spatial mechanism, design of deployable structures, origami metamaterials, and mechanical intelligent robots. She has published more than 90 journal papers in Science, NC, PNAS, AFM, Research, Engineering, MMT, etc.. Her research details can be found in http://motionstructures.tju.edu.cn/.

Presentation Description:

Modular origami structures with internal degrees of freedom show great potentials and advantages in the design of metamaterials. This talk will focus on metamaterials based on modular origami structures from the perspective of the interdisciplinary study of mechanism and mechanics, including the kinematic modeling of the mechanism of modular origami, the kinematic compatibility conditions for the assemblies of multiple origami structures, and the analytical relationship between the metamaterial properties and unit cell geometries. Such fundamental study leads to the programmability and tuneability of properties in constant or negative Poisson’s ratio metamaterial, transformable extremal metamaterial, multistable frequency-reconfigurable metamaterial and so on.

David Eppstein

Title: Computational Complexity and Parameterized Complexity of Folding

David Eppstein is a distinguished professor of computer science at the University of California, Irvine, with research interests including graph algorithms, graph theory, computational geometry, discrete geometry, and data structures.

He is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and co-editor-in-chief of Computing in Geometry and Topology.

Presentation Description:

Usually, it is preferable in origami to make a design that is easy to fold, and this is reflected in the fact that in practice, computer simulations of folding often work well. However, in theory, these simulations are not generally guaranteed to perform correctly, and for some patterns this may lead to problems such as self-intersections in intermediate states. In an attempt to understand this gap between theory and practice, we review the theory of hard-to-fold patterns, from NP-completeness through fine-grained and parameterized complexity, PSPACE-completeness, and undecidability.

Tomoko Fuse

Title: Infinite Fold and Repeated Fold

Tomoko Fuse (布施 知子, Fuse Tomoko, born in Niigata, 1951) is a Japanese origami artist and author of numerous books on the subject of modular origami, and is by many considered as a renowned master in such discipline.

Fuse first learned origami while in the hospital as a child. When she was 19 years old, she studied for two and a half years with origami master Toyoaki Kawai. She started publishing origami books in 1981, and has since published more than 100 books (plus overseas editions) as of 2024. She has created numerous origami designs, including boxes, kusudama, paper toys, masks, modular polyhedra, as well as other geometric forms and objects, such as origami tessellations, with publications in Japanese, Korean and English. She now resides with her husband Taro Toriumi, a respected woodblock printmaker and etcher, in rural Nagano prefecture, Japan.

Unit Origami: Multidimensional Transformations, the English language edition of her seminal modular origami inventions, may be considered the classic text on modular origami available in the English language.

Presentation Description:

This presentation will report on a large-scale origami installation that applies "infinite folding" and "repetitive folding" as contemporary art. Origami, which seems cramped within the rules of "folding," actually has wonderful formative potential.

Glaucio H. Paulino

Title: TBA

Professor Paulino is the Margareta E. Augustine Professor of Engineering at Princeton University. His seminal contributions in the area of computational mechanics include the development of methodologies to characterize the deformation and fracture behavior of existing and emerging materials and structural systems; topology optimization for large-scale multiscale/multiphysics problems; variational methods; deployable structures and origami engineering.

Recently (2020), he received the Daniel C. Drucker Medal of ASME, the Raymond D. Mindlin Medal of ASCE, and the Reddy Medal from Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Structures (MAMS 2020). He also received the 2015 Cozzarelli Prize from the National Academy of Sciences, “which recognizes recently published PNAS papers of outstanding scientific excellence and originality.” He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE), and a former President of the Society of Eng. Science (SES). 

More information about his research and professional activities can be found at the following link: http://paulino.princeton.edu/

Zhong You

Title: Beyond the Miura-ori: Innovations and Applications

Zhong You obtained his BS from Shanghai Jiaotong University, and MS from Dalian University of Technology, and Ph.D. from Cambridge University. He is currently a Professor of Engineering Science at the Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford. He is also a Fellow of Magdalen College. But beyond his academic titles, he's an engineer fascinated by how things fold and transform.

Zhong's research delves into the world of deployable structures – unconventional creations that can drastically change shape. His groundbreaking work has been published in prestigious journals like SCIENCE, PNAS and SCIENCE ADVANCES. Notably, his contributions were selected for the Science Day Exhibition at Buckingham Palace in 2007, organized by the Royal Society. He is one of the few who initiated using origami for engineering applications. SCIENCE introduced his research work in their “profile” section.

Beyond academia, Zhong’s talents extend to practical inventions. He developed a life-saving flow diversion stent for treating cerebral aneurysms. Additionally, his Stardust foldable travel cot has become a bestseller, simplifying journeys for parents with young children.

Presentation Description:

This presentation explores several variations that overcome these limitations. First, we introduce a novel concept based on a unit derived from the double-layered Miura-ori variation. Tessellating these units creates a large, deployable structure with alterable profiles. By considering the torsional stiffness (twisting resistance) of the creases, the structure becomes multistable, achieving both deployability and reconfigurability. As an exciting application, we will discuss a robotic limb with this structure, capable of lifting and holding weights due to its wider range of motion and grasping capabilities. Next, we demonstrate how a single-layer Miura-ori can be transformed into a dual-motion reconfigurable structure using kirigami techniques. Kirigami, the variation of origami with strategic cuts on paper, unlocks additional degrees of freedom beyond that of the Miura-ori alone. Finally, we will compare kirigami with origami for thick panels. Through examples, we will illustrate how kirigami enables more compact folding configurations which are impossible using traditional origami techniques.

Rigorous mathematical modelling and physical validation underpin our exploration of these fascinating structures throughout this presentation.