I experimented a lot with different shapes, different cuts and different folds. After I experimented a little bit, I discovered a shape that I liked and decided to repeat it and stick it down on a piece of paper. This is the design that you can see in the pictures above, I thought that this pattern would have been my main idea and to make many more that would repeat over and over again to create a huge sculpture, but I decided that it wasn’t the best that I could do. I tried rolling the paper over to see how it would look if the pattern was bent and I liked the design, but I just felt like it wasn’t interesting enough.
Then I made a little prototype of a sculpture that was inspired by the monstera plant, and I immediately fell in love with the design. I used huge two pieces of A2 paper and cut stripes diagonally down, curving them and cutting holes in them to create a more dynamic shape. Then I attach them from the corner and stuck some leaves to themselves so that it would loop creating more shape rather than just a free-flowing object. I knew straight away that this was going to be my main piece because I felt very attached to it and in a way, I saw a sentimental meaning within this sculpture.
These two little other prototypes were also ideas for my main product, but I did not choose them because I felt as though that they were too simple and easily could be replicated, I wanted to create something unique and something that many people can find different meanings in. Although I didn’t hate them, they were definitely not my best work and I felt like I needed further development to find the piece that really stuck with me.
The first image that you see is the image of the first prototype for the final design of my product. I felt as though this design could have been more improved allowing more leaves to dangled down rather than all of them bunched up in the middle. It created a more chaotic atmosphere at the top and a less lively atmosphere at the bottom, I wanted an element of both and for them to be balanced within this piece, so I decided to have an equal balance of looped and hanging pieces of paper.
This was the first design that I made it was rather a quick experiment to see how paper can actually fold to my favour and it helped me with dimensions and seeing the curves that paper can create. The second image shows an architectural type of paper origami, I wanted to create something that was more structured rather than free flowing to display my full range of skills on to explore other skills that could be a massive element in my final product.
The upper two designs were also prototypes that did not make it into the final selection because I thought that they were just too plain and nothing interests me about them, it would also be hard to put lights into it and make it seem interesting for the viewer. The last two pictures were the photos of my final product which I was very happy about and with installed lights it looked even better than before. Natural daylight creates some shadows from the sculpture itself but the lights intertwined in between the folds of the paper just create a more mystical and whimsical look. Overall I’m very happy with the outcome of my piece and I enjoyed the product making class, it is not something that I would love to do in the future but it is definitely a possibility.