Engineering Council

What’s the link between origami and engineering?

To most people origami is purely the art of folding paper. However, today's engineers are using this ancient technique to help solve some of the world's great challenges.

Origami has been used in a wide range of engineering applications, including:

• Collapsible packaging to help in recycling processes
• Folding mechanisms for use in the deployment of satellites and telescopes
• Airbags for cars
• Structures for use in nano-technology and medical diagnostics 

As the embodiment of skilful design, origami uses everyday materials economically to solve complex problems. The Engineering Council has been inspired to use origami images and tessellations, on both our website and printed marketing literature, as it provides highly effective representation of today's engineering values. 

We have been granted kind permission by origami tessellation experts Eric Gjerde and Mélisande to use their skilful designs on our website and printed literature.  Further work by these artists can be found in the useful links below.