Chronology of Folding
A light box.
I put a drawing in place, and the cloth above the drawing.
The triangles are waiting side by side, meticulously organized.
I start working: The first piece is critical and should be centered.
I take a deep breath and glue it.
Another piece and yet another join the previous, the spacing is important and so are the edges.
Each triangle gets its deserved attention and then the magic happens: a figure takes shape.
Step by step the cloth is transformed into a plane of triangles, marking varied folding options.
I pick up the opportunity and start folding: edges are aligned, vertices touch each other.
I play with the options until structure starts forming, volume is created, box shaped envelopes emerge.
The shapeless cloth becomes a sheet with folding potential, the sheet becomes a bag with real volume.
In this project, “The chronology of folding”, I created a capsule collection of bags. The idea of making a bag came to mind because it is an everyday object which is in direct and constant contact with the body. In this project I tried to bring together two opposite notions- the softness of the material and the person carrying it, and the bag itself, which is only built from sharp angles and straight lines. This encounter intrigued me and I tried to understand the correct relations between the two. I looked for answers in my childhood and began with that blank page. I researched the art form of Origami and created folds according to the exact measurements I was looking for. I combined between the computer based graphic programs’ abilities and my own human touch and craftsmanship. The ability to reach precision in sketching gave me a huge variety of options. The many triangles I sketched were laser cut from the soft material, which is the felt.
Through the eyes of the observer you can examine the bag as a whole but the connection with the body allows you to also examine the object by its parts- the triangles, and the relations between them. The triangles, as a whole, create a volume and a 3D effect which each bag has. A volume that corresponds with the body.
Maya Zakai I mayaz27@gmail.com