Complexity

[A random folder]

So isn't the definition: Bending is merely curving without solid creases and Folding is making a crease?

[GreyGeese]

I respect that you have a philosophy about folding that you stick to, but I just think it is ridiculous.

I have seen models that have been molded and sculpted (using wet paper or foil) to such an extent as to render the actual folding irrelevant. The folder might as well have just picked up a blob of papier mache and started sculpting, because it no longer has anything to do with origami when it gets to that point.

[Jonnycakes]

You mean like crumple folding? Or like Eric Joisel's masks? Those are certainly much different than conventional origami, but I think those are just different branches of the same art. Shaping is what gives life to origami-that is the primary thing that separates art from reproducible geometric forms. Just about all origami requires some shaping.

[GreyGeese]

Getting back to complexity per se, I have found that the number of steps (and thus the number of creases) is not a very reliable indicator. It is usually a single folding step that stops me cold on Lang's difficult models.

[GreyGeese]

Shaping is what gives life to origami-that is the primary thing that separates art from reproducible geometric forms.

You have managed to identify the most fundamental difference in our viewpoints: I consider "reproducible geometric forms" to be part of the definition of origami. A one of a kind piece can be nice, but it doesn't impress me nearly as much as the same piece fully diagrammed.