Newly discovered origami patterns put the bloom on the fold

The art of origami goes back centuries — enough time to explore every possible crease that can be made in a sheet of paper, one might think.

- Kenneth Chang

NEW YORK — The art of origami goes back centuries — enough time to explore every possible crease that can be made in a sheet of paper, one might think.

And yet, researchers have now found a new class of origami that they call bloom patterns. Resembling idealized flowers, many bloom patterns are rotationally symmetric around the centre.

The bloom patterns, with their set of attractive properties, appear promising for future engineering uses, especially for large structures that are sent to outer space. They fold up flat and compactly, they can be constructed out of one flat sheet, and they can be extended to ever larger shapes.

The discoveries originated from the paper-folding explorations of Mr Wang Zhongyuan, a sophomore at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Utah.

"I love to do origami, but if I can use origami to make practical applications that benefit the world, that will be a dream come true," he said in a video produced by BYU.

Mr Wang, with Professor Larry Howell from BYU's department of mechanical engineering, and Robert Lang, an origami artist and theorist who lives in Pasadena, California, reported their findings in a paper published recently in the journal Proceedings Of The Royal Society A.

The researchers have also provided an archive of images, videos and other help for anyone wishing to fold their own bloom patterns.