Three-Dollar Bird Base & Crane

Designed by Richard L. Alexander

I love folding dollar bills: their intricately-engraved printing, the high quality and durability of the paper, and their availability. I was troubled by the clumsy look of most traditional Japanese Cranes folded from our dollar, and when we got a commission to fold some 7-foot cranes for a pharma convention, I began to explore multi-piece alternatives. It turned out that there was an elegant, modular solution that instantly opened up the dollar format to hundreds of designs that use the Bird Base. This model produces a Bird Base the same size as folded from a 15 cm square.