Downloading Designs: Japanese Papercraft Exhibition
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 05.25.07
The Japanese are famous for their paper crafts; we love them because they can so easily be downloadable designs, eliminating the cost and carbon of shipping. There is an exhibition in Harajuku a the AssistOn Gallery showing dozens of them, old and new. Above are "from left to right: the grey old-fashioned robot from the 50s, the “Space Patrol” robot in his car on a pedestal and the flying robot dog on a LEGO brick."
And then they get much more complicated. There are ships, birds made out of tracing paper, and buildings like the Katsura Detached Villa and the Tokyo Train Station. All of the models in the exhibition are available from the Shubunsha Corporation; we hope soon for download. Open until May 31 at ::Assiston
photos and captions from ::Ping Mag
Paper Nikko Tosho-gu youmeimon - extremely elaborate paper work!
Exquisite paper swan – even feels so real. Tracing papers are used for its wings.
Paper model of the old Tokyo Station by Shubunsha - when computer graphics had not become mainstream yet. If all goes as planned, Tokyo station, will be reconstructed to regain its original design and architecture by 2011.
some people i know make a series called readyMech. Cool stuff. They can be printed out from you home printer and just require a little work to put together. Not quite as elegant as the designs above, but cool none the less.
readyMech