Kirigami: folding and cutting paper
Kirigami combines paper cutting and folding. Understand the Japanese name. See how fold-cut-open patterns work and follow links to cutting lessons.
Kirigami combines cutting paper with folding it. Cuts can open a flat sheet into a pattern or help it form a three-dimensional structure.
What the name means
Kirigami means “cut paper.” Some forms also join parts back together. A pop-up card is one way to picture how cutting and folding can work together.
Fold, cut, open
Our folded cutting projects use creases to repeat a cut around the opened sheet. Snowflakes and doilies spread a pattern around a centre; an accordion-folded chain repeats shapes along a strip.
Beyond decoration
At the University of Pennsylvania, artists and physicists have used kirigami to explore how cuts change a sheet’s shape. Their work connects paper experiments with questions in geometry and design.