Mechanics of Curved Folds

Despite an almost two thousand year history, origami, the art of folding paper, remains a challenge both artistically and scientifically. Traditionally, origami is practiced by folding along straight creases. A whole new set of shapes can be explored, however, if, instead of straight creases, one folds along arbitrary curves. We present a mechanical model for curved fold origami in which the energy of a plastically-deformed crease is balanced by the bending energy of developable regions on either side of the crease. Though geometry requires that a sheet buckle when folded along a closed curve, its shape depends on the elasticity of the sheet.