OrigaMIT Convention 2015

The Fifth Annual OrigaMIT Convention was successfully held on Saturday, Nov. 14th, 2015. Information about the convention is archived below. The 2016 convention will be held on Saturday, November 12th.

OrigaMIT will be holding its fifth annual origami convention on Saturday, Nov. 14th, 2015 on MIT's campus!

What do you do at an origami convention?

  • Take classes on how to fold specific origami models
  • Browse a high quality origami exhibition
  • Purchase origami paper and books
  • Have fun and fold paper!

The convention is open to anyone who would like to participate! Registration cost for this convention will be $20, which is quite cheap in comparison to other origami conventions. MIT students can register at a discounted rate of $5 due to support from the MIT Undergraduate Association. In order to cover the costs of lateness and to encourage early registration, registration will raise to $30 on Nov. 12th, so register early! The registration form is at the bottom of this page. Unfortunately, we cannot accept payment for anything online; please bring cash or Techcash to pay at convention check in!

Day of Convention

This year, all convention activities will occur in the same building, the MIT Student Center. Registration will start at 8.30am on the second floor in room W20-208. This room is MIT's Lobdell Dining Hall that can comfortably hold over 250 people and will serve as the main headquarters at convention. In the morning, please check in at our registration desk in W20-208. There you will:

  • Check in
  • Pay your registration fee
  • Get some paper, info, map, and schedule
  • Make a name tag
  • Order/pay for lunch or dinner
Afterwards, you can hang out and fold, check out things to buy at vending, or peruse our exhibition, all of which will be available in W20-208. You will be given a printed copy of a map at registration.

For those coming in from out of town, there are a number of hostels and hotels in the area, but book soon; rooms in Boston book quickly! For those driving in, there is lots of free parking around MIT's campus, but there can be many events on campus during the weekend, and it may be difficult to find parking. Please refer to the guidelines on MIT's Parking Page for more information about MIT parking regulations and locations. There is also metered parking on the street that is free on the weekends.

Classes

Classes and lectures will be available to convention attendees over the course of the day. The class schedule will be available here closer to the convention date. Classes will range in difficulty from simple, low through high intermediate, to complex; beginners and veterans alike will find classes to satisfy their curiosity! A tentative convention schedule is shown below. Class schedule is subject to change.

There will be no ticketing for classes; admittance will be based on a first come first serve basis, so please be flexible to make sure there is space for everyone. As is customary at MIT, each class will start 5 minutes past the hour and end 5 minutes before the hour. Please arrive on time! Also, please don't get in over your head! If you've never been to an origami convention before, this OrigamiUSA document on classroom etiquette is a useful read.

Special Guests!

This year, we are honored and excited to have two special guests attending convention: Robert Lang and Meenakshi Mukerji!

Robert Lang

Robert J. Lang has been an avid student of origami for over forty years and is now recognized as one of the world’s leading masters of the art. He is one of the pioneers of the cross-disciplinary marriage of origami with mathematics and his design techniques have been adopted by origami artists worldwide. He has consulted on applications of origami to medical devices, air-bag design, and space telescopes, is the author or co-author of sixteen books and numerous articles on origami and lectures on the connections between origami, mathematics, science, and technology.

Meenakshi Mukerji

Meenakshi Mukerji (Adhikari) was introduced to origami in early childhood. She rediscovered origami in its modular form as an adult quite by chance in 1995. This newfound mathematical and structural side of modular origami rekindled her passion for the art, and soon after, she started designing and displaying origami on her popular website origamee.net.

In 2005, OrigamiUSA noticed Meenakshi's work and presented her with the Florence Temko award. In April 2007, her first book Marvelous Modular Origami was published followed in quick succession by four more books. She has been a featured artist and special guest at many origami conventions both in the USA and abroad. Although known for modular designs, she has published a book of her single sheet works as well. Meenakshi regularly contributes to various origami journals and exhibits her work as well. She is a member of Origami USA and British Origami Society, and an editor for OrigamiUSA’s online magazine, The Fold.

Born and raised in Kolkata, India, Meenakshi obtained her BS in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a MS in computer science from Portland State University, Oregon. She worked as a software engineer for more than a decade. She is now at home in California devoting her time to family, designing and authoring origami and, of course, spreading the joy of origami.

Some other famous origami artists and designers that have attended this convention in past years are:

Brian Chan * Erik Demaine * Seth Friedman * Michelle Fung * Eric Gjerde * Tom Hull
Jason Ku * Paul Jackson * Michael LaFosse * Sipho Mabona * Jeannine Mosely
Chris Palmer * Sok Song * John Szinger * Wensdy Whitehead * Joseph Wu

Exhibition

We will host a small origami exhibition at this convention combining models from OrigaMIT's permanent collection, as well as models brought by convention attendees. If you are bringing models to exhibit, we will be accepting models in W20-208 starting at 8:30am. We will allocate exhibition space based on your requests in the registration form. Come set up early!

Food and Festivities

Food is not included in the cost of registration. There are many dining options available in the MIT Student Center (Subway, Dunkin' Donuts, Grill, Middle Eastern, Japanese, Convenience Store), but to help accommodate convention attendees, OrigaMIT will also be placing an order for both lunch and dinner on the morning of convention for food to be delivered to the convention location. If you would be interested in joining in our order, please indicate your preference on your registration form and bring money to give us on the morning of convention. Lunch will be pizza and $5 per person. Dinner will be Chinese food and $10 per person. We may not be able to support all dietary restrictions, so please ask before ordering. Of course you are free to find or bring your own food!

Vending

At convention, there will be opportunity to purchase origami paper and books from Origamido Studios, a famous local paper making studio and origami shop. Additionally, OrigaMIT will be selling OrigaMIT convention books, new t-shirts, and other goodies. We may also have other vendors, so stay tuned! Please bring cash or Techcash if you are interested in making any purchases as we will not have access to a credit card machine.

Convention Books

You can see the cover and table of contents for the book here. This year's book is 110 pages long. The new 2015 convention book will be available for the price of $15, while any old convention books still in stock will be sold for $10. Note that we have printed only a limited number of copies. We will give preference to convention attendees, but will only have enough to sell one copy per attendee. We may reprint the book again after this convention if there is a demand, so please let us know if you are not attending convention and are interested in purchasing one.

T-Shirts

We have stylish new OrigaMIT Convention t-shirts, as well as shirts from past years! They will cost $15, but if you're a current MIT student, you can purchase one for a discounted price of $10. This year, we have opted not to purchase women's sizes, in favor of buying only unisex sizes. We have a limited supply, so let us know if you would like to purchase one at convention, and we may order more!

Registration

Pre-registration has ended. Regular registration is available on the morning of Nov. 14th at $30 per person.





The OrigaMIT logo is a stylicization of Typeset, an origami font designed by Jason Ku '09. Top photo depicts Tim the Beaver V2 by Michelle Fung '13. Bottom photo depicts Mens et Manus II, copyright 2007 Brian Chan '02.



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