The Orilamp

Some time ago my friends in the Origami Group showed me how to make a box model originally designed by Clemente Giusto. I found it interesting, especially since when folding it you have to use a “twisting” technique that afterwards, when the model is finished, allows you to open and close it without needing to make a second matching part.

The fact is that the flaps of paper on top of the box made it look kinda strange, as they were really big in comparison to the rest of the piece. Therefore, I started fiddling with it to see if I could hide them somehow. This proved very easy to do, but even though the top was now square, the box didn’t open easily, and still the top looked too big. Then, I suddenly had an idea… why not flip the box, make the top be the base and and use it as a paper lamp?

Shoulders to the wheel! I made a new box out of onionskin paper, and then I put a led light inside (actually, a lego brick with the led and battery embedded). The pictures below show the resulting lamp, which in my opinion glows nicely and is translucent as to not show the led inside. The box is also sturdy, given the kind of paper used, and since it remains slightly opened in the bottom you could easily add a wire with the appropriate switch outside. Even more, depending on the thickness of the paper you use you can build sturdier models without the need of any kind of coating, and if you get tired of it you can always unfold it and use the paper for something else. I hope that you like it!

ps. I have just made a short video, a transition in between the two first images below showing the effect of fading the lights in the room, which you can download here.

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