Origami is the art of paper folding without cutting or gluing. It is a Japanese word; ORI means to fold, KAMI means paper and together they form the word Origami. It is now enjoyed world-wide not only by children but also by adults as an art. Origami is not just a matter of folding paper any which way you want. It is the art of creating a structure by folding a single sheet of paper according to a pattern, and no cutting is allowed.

Origami is built of paper folded into fractions. You could say it is the modern reincarnation of the ancient Japanese art of paper-folding. There are many books and origami instruction articles dedicated to helping people learn about the connections between origami, mathematics, and engineering.

Origami is the metamorphosis of paper through folding. According to Japanese tradition, one must begin with a single sheet of square paper, and without cutting or gluing, fold that paper into its final form. The art was originally developed by the Chinese but was later spread to Japan since the Japanese started producing paper more efficiently, hence their paper was a lot cheaper than the ones produced by the Chinese.

Origami is a lovely art, but for some folks it's frustrating before it's rewarding. It's not always easy to visualize where your careful folds are leading you -- so you may not see what you're making until you reach the last step.

Simple folds have been reinvented over and over. These folds have come out of both the east and west. Simplicity, homogeneity, flexibility and variety of forms, economy, and generation of complex geometries based on simple principles are the main characteristics of origami.