Made from 1 Sheet of Paper?! Ikuno Riku’s Incredible Origami Designs

It’s amazing what a person can do with 1 sheet of paper, and Ikuno Riku’s original origami designs are no different! Yes, that tiger is made from just 1 sheet of square paper! Riku has made many other realistic animals out of origami - Japanese paper folding, and here are some of our favorites!

From 1 Sheet of Paper

Ikuno Riku (@kanokoya41 on Twitter) is an origami designer from Fukui Prefecture in Japan. (Origami, as mentioned above, is the art of Japanese paper folding, the most famous design of all being the folded paper crane.) 

Riku continues to amaze people with their increasingly complex yet also realistic looking designs, most of which are made by folding only one sheet of paper, and without cutting it! 

On Twitter, Riku often posts the finish product with a graph of the folds required to make it. 

Daschund

Take for example this dachshund. Riku carefully selects paper that would best suit the design to make it look even more realistic. The paws especially look soft to touch.

The graph with the red and blue lines may be difficult to understand so here’s the piece of paper shown with all of its folds required to make the final design.

Golden Retriever

Here’s an adorable golden retriever. The details are immaculate, including the cute little tongue sticking out! It really looks like you can stroke its fur. 

Arowana

Here’s a type of freshwater fish called an arowana. The scales part is so incredibly impressive. 

Here’s a closer look at the amount of pleats required to emulate scales. It’s incredible to think this can all be done on one sheet of rectangular paper.

Alligator

Another design with impressive scales, here’s an alligator made from one sheet of square paper!

Panda

Riku sometimes uses paper that are different colors on opposite sides so they can accurately depict the animal. Take a look at this cute but massive-looking panda. It’s so life-like in its stance. 

Tiger

For the tiger, Riku even included the crease pattern and relative proportion (as well as for some other works), if you’re interested in the exact angles. If not, just admire how amazing and powerful it looks! 

Yabusame

While Riku mostly makes animals, here is a work that includes a person! 

Yabusame is Japanese archery on horseback. And yes, this is ALSO made from just 1 sheet of paper without any cuts! This is one of our favorite designs out of all of them. 

This explains which part of the paper is folded into what part of the final work, with the head of the horse at the top, the sword to the left, the arrow to the right, and the person at the bottom with the bow. 

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Cat Series

While you can find a huge range of animals in Riku’s work, from reptile to horses to sea creatures, you can’t help but notice the sheer amount of cats! 

This is perhaps influenced by the fact that Riku owns cats and has even created a design based on them! It’s also Riku’s first post on Instagram, so this design must be special.

And the cats continue! Check them out below! 

Tabby Cat 

Maine Coon

Calico

Cat Sitting in the Grass

Angry Cat

Cat with Fish in its Mouth

To Close

Ikuno Riku’s work is so impressive that the designs have been featured in origami exhibitions and in magazines as well! 

You can purchase instructions for some of their designs here: https://kanokoya.booth.pm/

And make sure to follow Riku on Twitter and Instagram to keep up with their latest designs! 

Photos provided courtesy of Ikuno Riku (Twitter, Instagram)