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Alessandro Beber

@alessandrobeber

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paperfolded/origami designs
flickr gallery:
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origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (black version, final)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: Japanese "tant" paper, one uncut 32cm black square + 25x white and 24x orange joined tiles.

Final version of this pattern in "marquetry origami tessellation" style, as some friends suggested to call it!
It's not the usual modular tiling approach of unit origami, in which individual modules are folded and then joined together. Instead, a tessellation is folded and used as a board, and several coloured tiles are inserted into it. These units have just few creases for a strong connection, and sometimes no creases at all!
This version looks identical to one shown a few posts ago. However, the layer ordering of different colours was changed, in order to have stronger connections for all the tiles.
This is by far my favourite version of this tiling, for its black borders and clean coloured tiles (grid creases appear only on the black areas).

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (flagstone version 2)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 30cm square of @fedrigoni.paper parchment paper.

Same design as in the previous post, just centred differently on the square paper.

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (flagstone version 1)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 30cm square of @fedrigoni.paper parchment paper.

Flagstone version of the same tiling as in the previous posts, structurally related to them. The technique was used for another pattern last year, and many more can be done this way! (Namely, any tiling based on square grids, with convex tiles and edges lying on grid lines or at 45°)

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (orange version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: Japanese "tant" paper, one uncut 32cm orange square + 9+16x white and 36x black joined tiles.

Third version of the previous tiling, this time using an orange tessellated board, and white and black added tiles. I also chose to centre the pattern differently, in order to obtain a framing border at the edges. One grid unit is folded back on each side, locking the outer coloured tiles and resulting in a slightly smaller but more compact piece. This could also be done in the previous versions, but I preferred to keep the raw edges at the sides for those.
So, what's next?

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (white version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: Japanese "tant" paper, one uncut 32cm white square + 36x black and 24x orange joined tiles.

This version of the previous tiling is quite efficient, having a white tessellated board that also covers the larger octagonal tiles. The main drawback is being less "clean" because of the grid lines on those areas. Obviously, it would be possible to score the crease lines instead of precreasing a full grid, but I personally prefer to design works that can be constructed by hand without extra tools.

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Salón de Comares / alcoba2" (black version, test)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: Japanese "tant" paper, one uncut 32cm black square + 25x white and 24x orange joined tiles.

Back after a long time, this is a design completed last April 2025 but waiting to be published until today.
Last year I designed a number of origami tessellations based on traditional Islamic tilings, but published only some of them. At some point during the process, I stopped for various reasons and had been busy until now. I have a few more works folded last year and ready to be shown, and several more designs that I did not fold yet. I will eventually come back to designing again, but for the moment I need some time to catch up with the works from last spring...
As a design note, there's not much to say. This was part of my exploration of multi-colour tessellations, I don't really know how to call this style (it's not a modular tess, as the units are not connected with neighbours, but joined on a tessellated "board") : any idea?
It's dubbed as a test since this piece has a few connection flaws, which were later solved in a new fold. More to come soon!

#origami #art math #tessellation pattern islamic islamicart #islamicpattern tiling #alhambra nasrid granada by @alessandrobeber

www.origamiartgallery.com
I'm happy to announce the opening of a new online art gallery, where you can find several paper artworks for sale! Check it out!
Shipping worldwide is included. You can ask for specific customizations (different colour, size) through the website contact form.
www.origamiartgallery.com by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Real Alcázar "Zaguán 1b" (four-colour version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 25 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 35cm square of "tant" paper + 25x 2,15cm and 24x 4,3cm squares.

Here is the final version of this simple tiling from the Alcazar palace of Seville. Sharing the same structure as the previous 2-colour version, the folds are arranged differently in order to host different colours in each square tile, both large and small. It means that all the rectangular white tiles are from the same paper, and I also managed to leave an empty border acting as a frame.
You can have a glimpse of the construction process from the following pictures.
The original ceramic tiling used similar colours in a different arrangement, since the real mosaics were much larger than this paperfolded piece.

#origami #art #math #tessellation #pattern #islamic #islamicart #islamicpattern #tiling #realalcazar #alcazar #nasrid #sevilla by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Real Alcázar "Zaguán 1a" (two-colour version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 25 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 35cm square of "tant" paper + 36x 3,2cm squares.

This tiling is from the Real Alcázar of Sevilla, which I had the chance to visit years ago. Again, a very simple pattern to draw, and an easy origami design. The tiling is the first shown in the book by @manuel_martinez_vela "el real Alcazár de Sevilla con regla y compás" (the Real Alcázar with ruler and compass), much more complex ones will follow.
Technically, this origami design is related to the previous one (coloured mosaic of diagonal squares from the Alhambra), by changing proportions in order to obtain small and large squares, and 2:1 rectangles in between. The latter are designed to host small paper inserts to obtain this 2-colour version.
The second picture shows an in-progress step, so you can compare this work with the previous design.

#origami #art #math #tessellation #pattern #islamic #islamicart #islamicpattern #tiling #realalcazar #alcazar #nasrid #sevilla by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "diamonds" (multi-colour version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 25 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 35cm square of "tant" paper + 64x 2,15 squares.

Another pattern from the Alhambra palace, this is straightforward to draw as it's just made of diagonally oriented small squares. Folding such a pattern from paper is also quite easy. However, my goal was to reproduce the tiling and its look, and in this case the colours were a fundamental feature.
The trick for obtaining this result is similar to that used for a previous tiling (huesos nazaríes, coloured version): one square is folded into an origami tessellation and used as a "board", and additional small squares (with no extra folds) of various colours are joined to it. In this case the tessellation/board also forms all the white tiles, and only the other colours are formed by inserts.
The second picture shows an in-progress step of the tessellation before adding colours: it looks like a diagonal tiling of squares in two different shades, due to the different thickness of the small square tiles. Those in relief will remain white, and those at a lower level (with shadows of the former ones) will host the colored inserts.
The tilings inside the Alhambra in Granada are made into much larger panels, and into column decorations. I chose a different arrangement of colours and a smaller layout, trying to use similar colours to the original ones.

#origami #art #math #tessellation #pattern #islamic #islamicart #islamicpattern #tiling #alhambra #nasrid #granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Mexuar floor tiling 4" (flat flagstone version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 24cm square of "golden river" paper.

This is the final flagstone version of the latest floor tiling pattern. Structurally, it's related to the previous versions (v.1&2), with some more extra folds in order to obtain the "flagstone" effect (each tile is separated from its neighbours by a small gap, made by two matching folded edges). It's completely flat-foldable, although more challenging to collapse.
I may fold it again someday, as I would like to obtain a cleaner look on the backside, too. However, I must admit that I'm pretty satisfied with this design (after some basic and already-known ones).

#origami #art #math #tessellation #pattern #islamic #islamicart #islamicpattern #tiling #alhambra #nasrid #granada by @alessandrobeber

origami pattern from the Alhambra "Mexuar floor tiling 3" (3d flagstone version)
design/fold: Alessandro Beber, 20 Feb. 2025
paper: one uncut 24cm square of "Elephantenhaut" paper.

Trying to design a flagstone version of the previous floor tiling pattern, I got this result. It's technically similar to the previous version (v2), but I did not find a simple way to flatten it (without introducing lots of thickness and extra creases). It displays a flagstone look, although three-dimensional, and the small square tiles involve a double-rotation (2x90°), resulting slightly slanted with this thick paper.

#origami #art #math #tessellation #pattern #islamic #islamicart #islamicpattern #tiling #alhambra #nasrid #granada by @alessandrobeber