h/t to @notational. The project employs Processing, but could also have been explored without code. Unfortunately, Creative Applications fails to mention why the use of Processing or of the vector drawing program, Adobe Illustrator, offers any unique advantages over India Ink and a ruling pen. Through code we can explore the possibility spaces of parametric curve generation. We may also be able to explore the potential for joinery so as to be able to bind two (or more) worked pieces into a whole. Also, the process followed suggests that Adobe’s open-source parametric drawing software could replace Processing altogether.

“To explore this idea, Dana developed 12 processed-folding objects series, using custom built software in Processing and
various physical techniques – printing, twisting, laser-cutting,
knotting and framing. Both the digital tools and the physical techniques
were used systematically in order to explore spatial, structural &
geometrical conditions, leading to the emergence of
prototypes. Dana used sheets of “Shrinky-Dinks”, a shrinkable
pre-stressed polystyrene sheets that are used commercially in kids’
creativity kits. After creating various black and white patterns in Processing,
she printed them on the sheets in black, using a simple desktop
printer, and then induced folding by placing the sheets under an IR
light bulb at a set distance. The printed sheets folded repeatedly
within seconds upon exposure to the light, according to the black-line
patterns. The energy from the light gets absorbed preferentially by the
black line, which acts as a hinge because it converts the light
effectively into heat. The heat relaxes the polymer directly under the
hinge region in a gradient across the sheet thickness.“