The sheet
Seventy grams of patience.
Hand-dyed washi from a mill in Mino, cut true to the millimetre. Long kozo fibres give a fold its memory, and a good sheet will tell you which way it wants to go.
Origami and paper engineering Leeds
Everything starts as a flat sheet.
We fold, score and cut paper into pop-up cards, hanging installations and workshops, for people who like to watch a square become something else.
Scroll to begin folding
01 The flat sheet
The flat sheet
The score
Lines before folds.
A bone folder presses every crease in before the paper moves. Watch the faint lines appear: each model in this studio is only a pattern of them, planned on paper first.
I / II
02 The folds
The folds
Fold one
A square becomes a diamond.
Turned a quarter, the sheet sits on its corner. Nothing is cut and nothing is glued, and every crease from here is a straight line through every layer.
Fold two
Kite folds.
The two lower edges meet the centre line and the sheet narrows to a kite. The creases you saw being scored now do their work, and the white back of the paper starts to show.
Fold three
In half, away from you.
A mountain fold along the spine brings both halves together: four layers of paper in one thin shape, held by a single line of tension.
Folds four and five
Neck and head.
Two reverse folds raise the neck and tuck the beak. Each one swings a whole stack of layers about one crease, which is why the paper has to be good.
A square becomes a diamond1of 6
03 The crane takes flight
The crane takes flight
Fold six
Spread the wings.
Open the spine and the two halves lift into a shallow V. That one angle is the whole secret of a crane that looks about to leave.
Lift off
Held still it is a model. Let go and it is a bird.
The same folded sheet, now flapping. The wings are not a separate part: they are the two halves of the paper, hinged on the line you folded first.
Across the bench
To the other desk.
Over the cutting mat, the pencil pot and a stack of kozo, to a second bench where something taller is waiting to open.
I / III
04 Pop-up engineering
Pop-up engineering
The spine
A pop-up is a hinge.
Everything that rises, rises because two flat panels open about one line. Get the spine right and the card feels like it wants to stand up.
Parallel folds
Faces that stay upright.
Each building is a four-bar linkage: a face hinged to the base and a roof strip hinged to the back panel. We solve the strip lengths so the faces stay vertical at a right angle and lie flat when the card closes.
The skyline
Sixty windows and a sunset.
Four rows of rooftops cut from a single sheet of card. It lies flat in an envelope and stands up in your hands, and the postman never knows.
I / III
05 The installation
The installation
One
One crane, forty times over.
Every installation begins with a single bird folded until the wing angle is right, then folded again until a whole team folds it the same way.
Three hundred
The same fold, again and again.
A team of six and a long table. Colours are weighed by the sheet so the indigo, coral and mustard land where the designer wanted them.
A spiral
Hung on thread, turning in the draught.
Strung from a ring and installed in a day. Lobbies, atriums, weddings and one very patient hospital waiting room.
Cranes hanging1and counting
06 Your turn
Fold one yourself.
Pick a model and a paper, then drag the slider to fold it by hand. Drag the desk to turn it.
Model
Paper
Coral
0 of 6Flat sheet
07 Work with us
What we make.
Installations
Custom hanging pieces
from £2,400
Cranes, flocks, paper rain and ceiling spirals, designed to your space, mocked up, installed in a day and taken down again. Includes a site visit, a full-size sample and fixings.
- 50 to 1,000 pieces
- Colours matched to a swatch
- Fire-retardant treatment on request
Pop-up cards
Bespoke cards
from £38
One card to say something properly, a set of six for a small business (£190), or the skyline of your own street engineered into a card (£95). Each one posts flat.
- Single card, £38
- Street skyline, £95
- Set of six, £190
Workshops
Folding sessions
£45 a head
Two hours, all paper provided, up to twelve people. Crane, fox, lotus or box, with tea. Private groups from £280, and we come to you for six or more.
- Saturday open sessions
- Private groups from £280
- Ages eight and up
Kits
Fold at home
£18 a kit
Twenty-four sheets of hand-dyed washi, a scoring bone and a fold-by-fold card for the crane, the fox and the lotus. The box you work out for yourself.
- Posted in a flat box
- Refill packs £9
- Gift wrapped on request
14820cranes folded last year
212workshops taught
61installations hung
7years in Leeds
08 Start a commission
Tell us what you would like folded.
A short note is plenty. We reply within two working days with a rough price and a date for a site visit or a workshop.
- Studio
- Unit 4, Tanners Yard, Leeds LS11
- Phone
- 0113 496 0142
- Hours
- Tue to Fri 10:00 to 17:00
Sat workshops 10:00 to 16:00
Closed Sun and Mon
Folded and posted.
Thank you. In a real studio we would reply within two working days. Here, nothing has been sent, so the paper stays on the desk.