Supersurfaces
Vyzoviti S., 2006, Supersurfaces: Folding as a method of generating forms for architecture, products and fashion, Amsterdam, BIS Publishers
This was a tiny book when it arrived through the post-bx. The fact it made it through the post-box was a nice change from the larger books I have been collecting of late.
Supersurfaces postulates that by folding papers new surfaces that can inform ideas for design can be produced.
I think that this is correct. There are plenty of illustrations of paper-folding further in to the book that group together certain methods used to make new paper surfaces.
The basic premise is that a flat paper surface can be transformed by some method to end with a three-dimensional surface.
The surface treatments can be grouped in to three classes.
Ruling – lines can be made or cut in to the surface, parallel, meandering, these can add elasticity to the surface.
Triangulating – Patterns of flat triangles can be creased in to the paper surface. By the direction creased in to each side of the triangle, convex or concave, a three-dimensional surface can be produced.
Crumpling – Random crease lines with irregular facets can be made into the paper surface, resulting in a three dimensional finish. This method requires minimum effort for maximum three-dimensional effect.
The best quote in the whole book though is that this sort of surface sampling requires “brain-ware and hand-ware rather than software”.
So a hands on approach will yield more interesting results that a computer based approach.
