Folding History Gallery

Origami is an ancient art that has become a current enthusiast activity.

View a basic PDF brief timeline of recreational paperfolding and picturesque longer select history of recreational paperfolding in Western Europe and Japan until 1931 both by David Mitchell.  Also, here is his index of origami history. The original sources section is at the foot of the page.  Within this index, you can view:

• Chronology of Paperfolding History
• US children's magazine St Nicholas
• About the oldest known modular design - The Playing Card Cube.

Samuel (Sam) Randlett, instrumental in the Yoshizawa–Randlett origami diagraming system we use today, was interviewed by Marc Kirschenbaum on January 24, 2021. View the Randlett interview.