Furoshiki: BYO Shopping Bag Japanese Style

No Tech magazine has a post about Furoshiki which is a traditional Japanese cloth that can be folded in different ways to hold bundles of various shapes and sizes.

A Paper Map That Zooms In

Here is another real world paper folding product. It is a pocket sized map of London that unfolds to let you zoom in on a given area.

Origami with a Hoodie

Conceptual Devices has a post showing different useful things you can make by refolding your hoodie. You can make a laptop sleeve, a shoulder bag, a backpack or a baby carrier. Obviously you may want to do some testing before you run around with your laptop in an improvised bag.

Origami High Chair

Here is an interesting origami idea - a baby's high chair made our of cardboard. This might be a bit tricky to make on your own and possibly a bit noisy if your design fails during user testing.

Weaving with Index Cards

This isn't origami but it is something sort of useful that you can do with an index card. Craft magazine has a video that shows how you can make a loom out of two index cards. Obviously this only works if you want to weave something the width of an index card.

via Robot Wisdom

Cardboard Bicycle

The Telegraph has an article, with a photo, about a bicycle that has a frame made out of cardboard. I have seen cardboard furniture before but I think this is the first time I've seen an outdoor vehicle made of cardboard.

via The Peace of Paper

Robotic Origami

Wired has a video of a robot folding an origami crane. Robots and origami! How many more of my buttons could they push?

Make sure you watch through to the end to see what is really happening.

P.S. I know it's not really a robot, it is a pair of remote manipulator arms.

Origami with your Tea

Another practical use of origami. This company has replaced the little tag on the end of the string on your teabag with a little origami boat. The boat floats in your tea so that you don't have to scald your fingers to take the bag out.