Origami from ori meaning " folding ” and kami meaning " paper " ( kami changes to gami due to rendaku ) is the traditional Japanese art of paper folding , which started in the 17th century AD at the latest and was popularized outside of Japan in the mid-1900s . It has since then evolved into a modern art form . The goal of this art is to transform a flat sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques , and as such the use of cuts or glue are not considered to be origami . Paper cutting and gluing is usually considered kirigami .
The number of basic origami folds is small , but they can be combined in a variety of ways to make intricate designs . The best known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane . In general , these designs begin with a square sheet of paper whose sides may be different colors or prints . Traditional Japanese origami , which has been practiced since the Edo era ( 1603 – 1867 ), has often been less strict about these conventions , sometimes cutting the paper or using nonsquare shapes to start with .
Resource : http :// en . wikipedia . org / wiki / Origami _ paper
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