OrigaMIT Convention 2018

The Eighth Annual OrigaMIT Convention was test successfully held on Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2018. Information about the convention is archived below. The 2019 convention will be held on Saturday, November 9th.

OrigaMIT will be holding its eighth annual origami convention on Saturday, Nov. 10th, 2018 on MIT's campus!

What do you do at an origami convention?

  • Take classes on how to fold specific origami models
  • Browse a high quality origami exhibition
  • Purchase origami paper and books
  • Have fun and fold paper!

The convention is open to anyone who would like to participate! Registration cost for this convention will be $20, which is quite cheap in comparison to other origami conventions. MIT students can register at a discounted rate of $5 due to support from the MIT Undergraduate Association. In order to cover the costs of lateness and to encourage early registration, registration will raise to $30 on Thursday Nov. 8th, so register early! The registration form is at the bottom of this page. Unfortunately, we cannot accept payment for anything online; please bring cash or Techcash to pay at convention check in!

Day of Convention

This year, all convention activities will occur in the same building, the MIT Student Center. Registration will start at 9am on the second floor in room W20-208. This room is MIT's Lobdell Dining Hall that can comfortably hold over 250 people and will serve as the main headquarters at convention. In the morning, please check in at our registration desk in W20-208. There you will:

  • Check in
  • Pay test your registration fee
  • Get some paper, info, map, and schedule
  • Make a name tag
  • Order/pay for lunch or dinner
Afterwards, you can hang out and fold, check out things to buy at vending, or peruse our exhibition, all of which will be available in W20-208. We will soon update with a map. You will be given a printed copy of this map at registration.

For those coming in from out of town, there are a number of hostels and hotels in the area, but book soon; rooms in Boston book quickly! For those driving in, there is lots of free parking around MIT's campus, but there can be many events on campus during the weekend, and it may be difficult to find parking. Please refer to the guidelines on MIT's Parking Page for more information about MIT parking regulations and locations. There is also metered parking on the street.

Classes

Classes and lectures will be available to convention attendees over the course of the day. We have 39 classes and 4 lectures currently scheduled. Classes range in difficulty from simple, low through high intermediate, to complex; beginners and veterans alike will find classes to satisfy their curiosity! A tentative convention schedule is shown below. Class schedule is subject to change.

There will be no ticketing for classes; admittance will be based on a first come first serve basis, so please be flexible to make sure there is space for everyone. As is customary at MIT, each class will start 5 minutes past the hour and end 5 minutes before the hour. Please arrive on time! Also, please don't get in over your head! If you've never been to an origami convention before, this OrigamiUSA document on classroom etiquette is a useful read.

Special Guests!

This year, we are excited to have two special guests attending convention:


Oriol Esteve Ekaterina Lukasheva

Oriol Esteve started to design origami models in 2013, with the OAS group (Origami Always Succeed) in Barcelona. He strongly believes in the social dimension of origami and likes to fold in bars and public places.

Oriol Esteve is a member of the Origami Spanish Association. His work has been published in magazines and convention books in Spain, UK, Italy, Germany, USA and Japan among others. Most part of his designs are focused on animals, where expressiveness is more important than realism. Traditional origami and the action models also play a big role in his creations. Few shaping and clear lines and edges are a characteristic of his work.

His book "Stop thinking, start folding" (published by Nicolas Terry. November , 2018) is a compilation of thoughts and diagrams about his first five years as origami designer.

Ekaterina Lukasheva has a passion for mathematics and art, and the convergence of these two passions has given birth to her intricately folded paper art. Ekaterina Lukasheva was born in Moscow, Russia. As a child she was fascinated by architecture, art, and mathematical games and puzzles. She went on to receive an MSc in mathematics and computer science, and a PhD in mathematics, giving her strong mathematical background that allows her to feel the geometry of origami intuitively.

To create her art, Lukasheva uses both her knowledge about smooth curved surfaces, symmetry, tilings and her inner feeling of pure geometrical beauty. Her geometric tessellations are created from flat sheets of paper, transformed through the act of folding into complex, structured objects. Each design is not only a beautiful ornament, but has an engineering process behind it that is invisible to the viewer. Unlike molded sculptures, her tessellations are designed so that they can be unwrapped and returned to their original flat form at any time.


Some famous origami artists and designers that have attended this convention in past years are:

Brian Chan * Erik Demaine * Seth Friedman * Michelle Fung * Rebecca Gieseking * Eric Gjerde
Tom Hull * Jason Ku * Paul Jackson * Beth Johnson * Michael LaFosse * Robert Lang
Sipho Mabona * Jeannine Mosely * Meenakshi Mukerji * Chris Palmer
Won Park * Sok Song * John Szinger * Wensdy Whitehead * Joseph Wu

Exhibition

We will host a small origami exhibition at this convention combining models from OrigaMIT's permanent collection, as well as models brought by convention attendees. If you are bringing models to exhibit, we will be accepting models in W20-208 starting at 8:30am. We will allocate exhibition space based on a first come, first serve basis. Come set up early!

Food and Festivities

Food is not included in the cost of registration. There are many dining options available in the MIT Student Center (Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, Grill, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Convenience Store), but to help accommodate convention attendees, OrigaMIT will also be placing an order for both lunch and dinner on the morning of convention for food to be delivered to the convention location. If you would be interested in joining in our order, please indicate your preference on your registration form and bring money to give us on the morning of convention. Lunch will be pizza and $5 per person. Dinner will be Chinese food and $10. We may not be able to support all dietary restrictions, so please ask before ordering. Of course you are free to find or bring your own food!

Vending

At convention, there will be opportunity to purchase origami paper and books from Origamido Studios, a famous local paper making studio and origami shop. Additionally, OrigaMIT will be selling OrigaMIT convention books), new t-shirts, and other goodies. Please bring cash or Techcash if you are interested in making any purchases as we will not have access to a credit card machine.

Convention Books

OrigaMIT puts together a small collection of origami diagrams to sell at our convention. This year we are happy to announce a new convention book for Convention 2018! You can see the cover and table of contents for the book here. This year's book is 108 pages long. The new 2018 convention book will be available for the price of $15, while any old convention books still in stock will be sold for $10. Note that we have printed only a limited number of copies. We will give preference to convention attendees, but will only have enough to sell one copy per attendee. We may reprint the book again after this convention if there is a demand, so please let us know if you are not attending convention and are interested in purchasing one.

T-Shirts

We will have stylish new OrigaMIT Convention t-shirts, as well as shirts from last year! They will cost $15, but if you're a current MIT student, you can purchase one for a discounted price of $10. The site will soon be updated with the new design! We have a limited supply, so let us know if you would like to purchase one at convention, and we may order more!

Registration

To register for the 2018 OrigaMIT convention, please fill out the following form:







The OrigaMIT logo is a stylicization of Typeset, an origami font designed by Jason Ku '09. Top photo depicts Tim the Beaver V2 by Michelle Fung '13. Bottom photo depicts Mens et Manus II, copyright 2007 Brian Chan '02.



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