Me: “ Why do you choose to make natural subjects more often than objects and geometric shapes?” I fold in all genres, but probably 80-90% of what I do is from a single square, what is called in Japanese, fu-setsu sei-hokkei ichi-mai ori.”Ībove: “Orchid,” “K2,” and “Allosaurus Skeleton” (side and front views) are examples of origami that are not made from a single sheet of square paper. Robert Lang: “Certainly not! There are many genres of origami, including modular origami (many identical units from multiple sheets, such as my K2), composite origami (different parts of the subject from different sheets, such as my Orchid), and different shapes (such as my recent pots, which are from regular N-sided polygons). Me: “ Do you make everything out of one sheet of square paper?” Eventually, I began to recognize common principles that lay behind many different techniques, which allowed me to construct my own techniques and even later, I figured out how to describe those principles mathematically, which led to further design advances.” Over time, I built up a collection of techniques for solving individual problems: how do you turn a flap into a leg, or how do you make a rounded shape. Robert Lang: “When I started out, I designed origami the way most people did: somewhat by trial and error. Me: “ How has the process of designing your work refined over the years?” For a complex figure, I try to break down the subject into its component parts, figure out how to attack the individual parts, and figure out how they’ll all interact with each other in the overall design.” Robert Lang: “It varies a lot, depending on whether the figure is simple or complex. Me: “ Can you summarize the general steps you take to design a new piece of work?” But I would guess that by my early teens I was coming up with my own figures.” Robert Lang: “It’s always hard to draw the line between “modifying an existing design” and “designing one’s own composition.” Certainly I tried modifying the designs I was folding from my books almost immediately. Me: “ When did you begin designing your own origami compositions?” I do remember that origami seemed like a great way to make toys from free materials, i.e., scrap paper.” I saw it as a fun puzzle to try to work out. A teacher gave me a book that had some folding instructions in it. Robert Lang: “My first experience happened when I was 6 years old, so I don’t remember it all that well. Me: “ What was your first experience with origami like?” But after folding representational figures for 40-odd years (and drawing tens of thousands of diagrams of same), I’ve started to get a little bit of an eye for form.” “Artistically, as a child I was interested in various crafts which I took up and abandoned (sometimes several times), but I’ve never really had any formal artistic training. This then led into a career in lasers and optoelectronics, first at NASA/JPL, and then for 9+ years at Spectra Diode Laboratories, a Silicon Valley company that developed and manufactured semiconductor lasers.” After getting my MS from Stanford (also in EE), an interest in lasers led me to Applied Physics, back at Caltech for my PhD. For college, I went to Caltech on the advice of a hiking buddy, and, once there, cycled my major interest through mathematics, computer science, and eventually settled into Electrical Engineering for my BS. In high school I became interested in mathematics through books and articles by Martin Gardner. Robert Lang: “Science-wise, I’ve always been interested in natural history (a love that arose from a childhood of tramping through the woods, playing in the creek, and collecting plants and animals). Me: “ Tell me a little bit about your background in both science and art.” Here, Robert Lang shares his experience as both an origami artist and a scientist. His more recent 500+ page publication “ Origami Design Secrets” is a serious book on the mathematical theories and underlying principles of origami design. Over the years, Robert Lang has published many of his design patterns in origami books. Unlike many other origami artists, he is also a scientist with an extensive engineering background. Lang, one of the top origami artists in the world, is well known for his highly realistic and elegant designs in natural subjects.
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