What is Origami Lane?
Your avenue to mega-techno Origami — Learn why and how the Zen, Zen Lotus & Shinto chair collections were created, as well as the difference between Origami and Origane.
Why Origami Chairs?
Architecture and building construction is a team sport, and it's what I do at Allen + Pepa Architects. In my free time, I find myself working on Origamic furniture to combine Architecture, Origami and Wood/Metal sheet goods to present a unique form of sculpture that is at a tangible human scale. I have always been a woodworker and in fact a furniture apprentice for about 2 years when I was 20-22. Architects have historically challenged themselves to design class-A chairs. In my own family, my uncle Davis Allen designed the Andover chair while as head of Interiors at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, New York. It’s classic look and the high-quality details have been an inspiration for my chairs. This personal endeavor makes me a better architect as I work towards mastering the construction of these chairs.
Origami Chairs are a great hobby for me because it involves architectural design, technical problem solving, Origami design through triangulation, as well as many unique folding technique - hence origami furniture.
I've folded paper origami and even metal-mesh origami for many years. But folding ½ inch plywood (or 1/16th inch perforated metal) by 22 1/2°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 135 v-grooves is done by means of a deep and fascinating study of Pythagorean geometry. The Patent is based on a cube base with no plumb lines. If you look at the elevation of the chair the design becomes a Z-hence ”Zen” Chairs.
The ‘Zen Lotus’ chairs are made of a single piece of 4’x8’x ½ ” plywood cut into three pieces and assembled into its 3D form. The ‘Shinto’ chair is a single piece 4’x6’ perforated metal folded with no waste - a true representation of Origami. Unprecedented!
A further exciting development is that I have custom 30” x 96” CNC Router in my basement, which will enable me to make these chairs independently and get even more creative with the designs. There are 8 different router bits and the ply is cut on 2 sides, so not an easy endeavor.
Artwork by Hokusai.
"The idea came from origami, mixed with my wood-working background and leveraged by my architectural skills. So, I came up with the chair designs and a few of my buddies helped me out to buildout the shop, add the CNC machinery to bring these ideas to life!"
— Lane Allen
Origami is the art of folding paper. The Japanese word "origami" is a combination of two words in Japanese: "ori" which means "to fold" and "kami" which means both "paper” and God. Most people have folded a paper crane, or at least seen one. Traditionally, it was believed that if one folded 1000 origami cranes, one's wish would come true. It has also become a symbol of hope and healing during challenging times.
“Origane” is the art of folding metal and is a very old Japanese art form. The literal interpretation of “Origane” is “man chopping wood in the house of gold”. One example of folding metal is the Samurai's sword. Forging these blades typically took many weeks and was considered a sacred art. The swords are made by repeatedly heating, hammering and folding the metal up to a million times.
I like to think of my metal chair designs as a mash up of the two art forms. The designs include both origami folds by nature, but also the concept of using metal to fold the final form. Some of my other designs, specifically the wooden chairs, are a modern architectural interpretation of paper origami - and in a way it is still paper, just much more of it!
Artwork by Tomoko Fuse.