Moneygami (also known as money-gami) [1] is the shaping of paper currency, such as Indian rupees or United States dollars, into pieces of art. The word is a portmanteau of money and origami .
The concept has been popularized by individuals such as Japanese pop artist Yosuke Hasegawa, who has had his work featured at an exhibition at the Tadu Art Gallery, and its creation can function as cultural commentary on the value that materialistic societies place on money. For example, one piece by Hasegawa involves Chairman Mao Zedong's folded head wearing a cowboy hat in a double image, based on Andy Warhol's famous picture of Elvis Presley. [2]
The name alludes to traditional origami, which is the Japanese art of folding flat materials, generally paper, into figures resembling various objects. Other examples of moneygami include folding bills into clothing-like bits, such as dollar bills becoming bowties. [1]
Origami is the Japanese art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Modern origami practitioners generally discourage the use of cuts, glue, or markings on the paper. Origami folders often use the Japanese word kirigami to refer to designs which use cuts.
Federal Reserve Notes, also United States banknotes, are the currently issued banknotes of the United States dollar. The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing produces the notes under the authority of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and issues them to the Federal Reserve Banks at the discretion of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. The Reserve Banks then circulate the notes to their member banks, at which point they become liabilities of the Reserve Banks and obligations of the United States.
A banknote—also called a bill, paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commercial banks, which were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank. These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the market served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks or monetary authorities.
The Philippine peso, also referred to by its Filipino name piso, is the official currency of the Philippines. It is subdivided into 100 sentimo, also called centavos.
The discipline of origami or paper folding has received a considerable amount of mathematical study. Fields of interest include a given paper model's flat-foldability, and the use of paper folds to solve up-to cubic mathematical equations.
Modular origami or unit origami is a two-stage paper folding technique in which several, or sometimes many, sheets of paper are first folded into individual modules or units and then assembled into an integrated flat shape or three-dimensional structure, usually by inserting flaps into pockets created by the folding process. These insertions create tension or friction that holds the model together.
Peter Engel is an American origami artist and theorist, science writer, graphic designer, and architect. He has written several books on Origami, including Origami from Angelfish to Zen, 10-Fold Origami: Fabulous Paperfolds You Can Make in Just 10 Steps!, and Origami Odyssey.
Chinese paper folding, or zhezhi, is the art of paper folding that originated in medieval China.
Akira Yoshizawa was a Japanese origamist, considered to be the grandmaster of origami. He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art. According to his own estimation made in 1989, he created more than 50,000 models, of which only a few hundred designs were presented as diagrams in his 18 books. Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for Japan throughout his career. In 1983, Emperor Hirohito awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, 5th class, one of the highest honors bestowed in Japan.
Counterfeit money is currency produced outside of the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery, and is illegal in all jurisdictions of the world. The business of counterfeiting money is nearly as old as money itself: plated copies have been found of Lydian coins, which are thought to be among the first Western coins. Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. Another form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions. During World War II, the Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars. Today, some of the finest counterfeit banknotes are called Superdollars because of their high quality and imitation of the real US dollar. There has been significant counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than that of the US dollar.
Paper craft is a collection of crafts using paper or card as the primary artistic medium for the creation of two or three-dimensional objects. Paper and card stock lend themselves to a wide range of techniques and can be folded, curved, bent, cut, glued, molded, stitched, or layered. Papermaking by hand is also a paper craft.
Origamic architecture is a form of kirigami that involves the three-dimensional reproduction of architecture and monuments, on various scales, using cut-out and folded paper, usually thin paperboard. Visually, these creations are comparable to intricate 'pop-ups', indeed, some works are deliberately engineered to possess 'pop-up'-like properties. However, origamic architecture tends to be cut out of a single sheet of paper, whereas most pop-ups involve two or more. To create the three-dimensional image out of the two-dimensional surface requires skill akin to that of an architect.
Kirigami is a variation of origami, the Japanese art of folding paper. In kirigami, the paper is cut as well as being folded, resulting in a three-dimensional design that stands away from the page. Kirigami typically does not use glue.
Origami paper is used to fold origami, the art of paper folding. The only real requirement of the folding medium is that it must be able to hold a crease, but should ideally also be thinner than regular paper for convenience when multiple folds over the same small paper area are required.
Money burning or burning money is the purposeful act of destroying money. In the prototypical example, banknotes are destroyed by setting them on fire. Burning money decreases the wealth of the owner without directly enriching any particular party. It also reduces the money supply and slows down the inflation rate.
Sipho Mabona is a Swiss origami master. Mabona was the first-ever foreigner to have his work grace the cover of the official magazine of the Japan Origami Academic Society (JOAS) Convention in 2008. Mabona was commissioned by an advertising agency to create an origami stop-motion video for Japanese sports brand ASICS. The video won a Grand Prize at the Eurobest, gold at the New York festival, gold at the London International Awards, silver at the Clio in Miami and two times bronze at ADC Germany. He has made large origami models on display, for example, a giant origami elephant which he livestreamed. He raised US$25,000 to make it. He has also designed other animals, including a swallow, a rhino, and a crab, all folded from one square sheet of paper. Furthermore, he also designs models folded from money and papers with other dimensions, such as the origami locust, folded from a single dollar.
Paper toys are constructed in several ways, by folding, as in paper airplanes, paper fortune tellers or Origami, or by cutting, decorating or assembling pieces of paper with glue or tape to create a paper doll or paper model.
Mark Wagner is an American artist best known for meticulous collages made of United States banknotes, such as the portrait of Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, composed exclusively of one-dollar bills, in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. He is co-founder of The Booklyn Artist Alliance and has published over twenty artists’ books with Bird Brain Press and X-ing Books.
Tomohiro Tachi is a Japanese academic who studies origami from an interdisciplinary perspective, combining approaches from the mathematics of paper folding, structural rigidity, computational geometry, architecture, and materials science. His work was profiled in "The Origami Revolution" (2017), part of the Nova series of US science documentaries. He is a professor at the University of Tokyo.