The people listed below will be presenting at Origami University 2026.
Brandon Wong
https://web.mit.edu/wongb/www/origami/
Brandon (@ThePlantPsychologist) is a PhD student studying the mechanical engineering applications of origami. He strives to advance and promote the mathematical side of origami and focuses on combining technical novelty with artistic expressivity in his designs.
Nobuko Okabe
I was born and grew up in Tokyo, Japan and currently live in New Jersey, USA. I have been teaching origami for nearly 30 years and started designing about 15 years ago. My main interest is designing fun modular models with simple and versatile units. One of those units caught eye of Ms. Tomoko Fuse and she named it “Super Nobu Unit” using my first name. My book “Modular Origami with Super Nobu Unit” was published in 2017.
Jason Schneider
Jason Schneider is an accountant and origami artist in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He puts considerable emphasis on fun folding sequences to achieve beauty in simplicity.
Faraz Mangi
M. Faraz Mangi is an origami artist based in Australia. Outside of origami, he is a final year medical student. He has been interested in paper folding for most of his life, but fell in love with the art form when he started to design models in 2021.
An area of origami central to his work is the colour change. He is fascinated by the structures and methods used to produce models which showcase both sides of the paper. Frequently, he folds 2D models that consist of splotches of colour change contained upon a canvas to depict a figure. Additionally, he finds joy in folding unusual subjects and tries to imbue a playfulness in his designs.
Jeremy Shafer
https://www.youtube.com/@jeremyshaferorigami
I discovered origami when I was 10 years old and have been folding almost everyday since then. I love to design new models and I share them on my YouTube channel JeremyShaferOrigami which I started in 2011. Before switching to video tutorials, I used to diagram my origami models, and I published three books: Origami to Astonish and Amuse, Origami Ooh La La, and Origami Pop-ups to Amaze and Amuse. My other passions include juggling, unicycling, handwhistling and salsa dancing. I earn my living as a children's entertainer.
Travis Nolan
Travis Nolan (tankoda) is an award-winning origami artist and published researcher based in Dallas, Texas. Travis, who has been designing for fourteen years, specializes in 22.5° design and origami paleoart. Notable origami accomplishments include presenting at the 8th International Meeting on Origami in Science, Mathematics and Education, and receiving gold in the Own Design category of the 2021 International Origami Internet Olympiad. Travis is a long-time volunteer with Paper for Water, an origami-based charity raising money for water projects in developing countries. Currently, Travis is writing a book about 22.5° origami design.
Angeline Cuvertino
https://angelinecuvertinotessellations.myshopify.com/
I am Angeline Cuvertino, born in Córdoba, Argentina, in 2007. I began practicing origami at age five and have pursued it for over thirteen years as a continuous process of study, design, and experimentation. My work focuses on tessellations and corrugations, exploring paper as a geometric and structural system through pattern, repetition, and rhythm. I have participated in origami conventions across Argentina and taught workshops on design and folding structures. In 2025, I received an OrigamiUSA scholarship in the United States, strengthening my training and international perspective. I view origami as an educational and cultural tool for learning and transformation.
Ilan Garibi
https://www.garibiorigami.com/
I am an artist and designer specializing in folding techniques. I explored folding different materials such as fabrics, leather, metal, wood, glass, and ceramics. I design products, such as lamps, vases, tables, works of art, and jewelry, using metal, wood, and paper.
I have around 220 origami models, mostly tessellations and modulars, as shown in my four books.
I am the founder and CEO of Origamisrael, the major group of origami artists in Israel. I am also the founder and the manager of the CFC, the community for origami Creators.
I am 61 years old, a husband, a father, and, more recently, a grandfather.
Malcolm Smith
Malcolm is an origami designer and researcher from Longmont Colorado. His designs include origami mechanisms to make models like a "working" car and a color changing chameleon. He is currently studying mechanical engineering at Stanford.
Neel Dalela
Neel Dalela is a high school origami artist out of Seattle, WA. Being an active member of the origami community he aims to bring the joys of origami to all and is interested in the connection between origami and math. His commitment to serving the community was awarded with the 2024 OrigamiUSA Scholarship. Furthermore, his designs have been featured in Origami By Children 2023 and 2025 exhibition. He was the OrigaMIT 2024 Speed Design Champion, and has been regularly teaching at the OrigaMIT convention since 2024. Neel won the popular vote in the figurative interpretation category of the 2024 Joisel Awards, and his work has been exhibited at Eindhoven University of Technology during the Bridges Math and Art conference in 2025.
Charlene Morrow
My origami passion is geometric models, particularly modulars, including boxes. I have taught many classes and workshops using origami to introduce students to some beautiful, visual aspects of art, mathematics and science.
Michael Nguyen
https://michaelnguyen.portfolio.site/
Michael Nguyen is a Berlin-based communication designer and origami artist known for sculptural, humanoid paper figures exploring storytelling, faith, history, and human emotion. Since beginning origami during the Covid pandemic, he has developed a distinctive freefolding style that reimagines existing designs through expressive modification and shaping. His work has been exhibited internationally, featured in publications, and recognized with multiple awards within the origami community. Alongside his artistic practice, he works as a visual communication designer and leads online workshops and community art gatherings.
Ekaterina Lukasheva
I am Ekaterina Lukasheva, a paper artist working at the intersection of mathematics and origami. My practice centers on modular origami and geometric tessellations, and I am known as a pioneer of curved origami structures created from flat sheets of paper. With a background in mathematics, I approach paper folding as both an artistic and structural exploration of form. I am the author of five books on modular origami and curved origami, sharing innovative techniques and new geometric designs with folders around the world.
Miles Wu
Miles Wu is a ninth grader attending Hunter College High School in New York City. His research project studying the strength of Miura-ori patterns recently won the top prize at the Thermo Fisher Junior Innovators Challenge, the nation’s premier science research competition for middle schoolers. Miles enjoys designing and folding insect origami, as well as studying biology. He shares some of his work at @origamimilesnyc.
Tej Patel
I’m Tej Patel, a product design student at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, currently exploring how origami intersects with design, engineering, and education. I’ve been folding for over 15 years and have taught origami in schools, workshops, and conventions across India and Abroad. I’m especially interested in how folding principles can be applied to real-world contexts such as kinetic structures, soft robotics, learning tools, and installations, and I’m actively exploring these directions through design and experimentation.
Larry Howell
Larry Howell is a mechanical engineering professor who loves working with students to create things that have never existed before. He teaches at Brigham Young University, where he studies how folding, bending, and flexibility—ideas seen in origami—can be used to design real machines. Instead of using metal hinges and joints, his lab designs devices that move by flexing, much like paper folds. His lab’s work has helped create new ideas for space structures, medical devices, and microscopic machines, and it has been featured on NOVA and CNN, as well as through collaborations with Mark Rober’s Crunch Labs. He believes that origami is both an amazing art and a powerful way to create new products that can make a positive difference in the world
Kelvin Wang
Kelvin Wang is a sophomore-year undergraduate student at Brigham Young University (BYU) majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He is particularly interested in origami and its applications in deployable structures. He began origami at the age of 8 or 9 folding modular origami polyhedron with his family, then began to follow online tutorials, and eventually began to experiment with new designs. It was years of such exploration that originated the unanticipated discovery of the bloom pattern. He chose BYU and joined the Compliant Mechanisms and Robotics (CMR) Group because of their research in space, medical, and industrial applications of origami, such as the deployable origami flasher space solar array. He works under Dr. Larry Howell.
Boice Wong
Boice is an origami artist from Portland OR and is known online by his handle, OrigamiByBoice.
He is known for his unique humanoid and dragon designs. A goal in his folding is to trick people into thinking that the result is not just a single square despite them always being folded from one uncut paper square. Boice also makes YouTube tutorials where he makes complex topics, like learning crease patterns, less intimidating.
Boice’s accomplishments include the Joisel Award 2023 and an International Origami Internet Olympiad (IOIO) Silver medal. He has continued his interest in competitive origami by hosting the largest competitions with cash prizes on his website.
Jeannine Mosely
I have been folding paper since I was a small child. I studied Mathematics at the University of Illinois, and Electrical Engineering at MIT. While at MIT, I encountered my first modular origami model and was instantly hooked on modulars. In 2005, with the help of several hundred volunteers, I completed a level 3 Menger Sponge model folded and assembled from 66.048 business cards. In 2012, with another large group of volunteers at the University of Southern California, I designed and built the Snowflake Fractal from 49,000 business cards. I have also designed curved origami models ("Orb", "Bud"), curved tessellations ("Sails"), and action models ("Pulsar"). I love to design and make models that demonstrate mathematical principles.
Evan Zodl
Evan has been folding paper for over 15 years. In an effort to share his passion with the world, he began making instructional origami videos on YouTube in 2008. Since then, he has taught origami to tens of millions of people globally and developed a following of over 160,000 people on his "EZ Origami" YouTube channel. He designs original origami models inspired by fractals, spirals, and recursive patterns found in nature. In June 2019, he received OrigamiUSA’s Teaching Award. His first book, "Origami Made EZ," will be published in July.
Paul Jackson
https://www.origami-artist.com/
Paul Jackson has been a professional paper artist since 1983. He has taught 'Folding as a Language of Design' in more than 80 Colleges in a dozen countries.
Marc Kirschenbaum
Marc Kirschenbaum has over fifty years of origami experience. He has developed hundreds of models on a large variety of subjects and has published numerous books showcasing these pieces. Marc is active in OrigamiUSA, in both capacities as a Director and Chair of the Publications Committee.
Daniel Scher
https://www.sineofthetimes.org/
Daniel Scher served as a senior scientist on two NSF grants focused on technology in mathematics education. He co-authored a geometry curriculum at Education Development Center (EDC), co-led the development of an after-school mathematics program adapted from the Russian Elkonin-Davydov curriculum, and has published widely on mathematics education issues. He has championed the development of The Geometers Sketchpad software, and now Web Sketchpad, for over 20 years. His website is sineofthetimes.org.
Anjana Vaidyaraman
My name is Anjana Vaidyaraman, and I am an origami enthusiast and aspiring aerospace engineer. I have been folding origami since I was six years old, and I mostly fold 30-piece modular origami and tessellations. I love to teach and share origami, from local events to OrigamiUSA conventions. My independent research focuses on the intersection of origami and aerospace engineering. Currently, I serve as Vice President of the OrigamiUSA Junior Board. Outside of folding, I enjoy model rocketry, crochet, and ceramics.
Ojas Parekh
Hi, I’m Ojas! I’ve been folding origami since I was six, and over time it’s grown from a hobby into something I actively design, teach, and share with others. I create my own models and enjoy teaching others how to fold and think through designs.
I’ve seen firsthand how origami builds confidence, problem-solving skills, and spatial reasoning. That experience led me to start my high school’s Origami Club and to run workshops and summer camps at local libraries and senior centers.
Jimmy Yu
Jimmy Yu is a high school junior at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park, Chicago. Most of his origami work is in designing kusudamas and other modulars. He received an OrigamiUSA Scholarship in 2024 and currently serves as the Secretary on the Junior Board.