Impressionist Bat, 2013

This is one of my earliest original designs, yet even to this day, it remains one of the works I am most satisfied with—primarily because of the successful shaping of the head. It is also likely the design I have folded the most times. When I created it, I did not reference any specific species of bat; instead, I relied entirely on my own impression of bats. As a result, while the anatomical structure may not be entirely accurate, the model nevertheless captures the striking and charismatic essence of a bat.

At the time, my understanding of systematic origami design theory was still limited, so this model was created entirely using classical methods. In particular, I applied grafting and splitting techniques to modify the traditional bird base in order to establish the fundamental structure: grafting extends the wingspan and provides a larger surface area for the wings, while splitting was used to create the legs and the tail from one flap of the bird base. The remaining details (especially the head) were gradually refined through the process of trial and error.