Ron Resch

http://www.ronresch.org/ronresch/

Geometric Modular Tessellation

For permission to teach the model, please contact the copyright holder.

IA
United States

About Ron

Summary

Ron Resch (Ronald Dale Resch; 1939 – 24 November 2009) was an artist, computer scientist, and applied geometric, known for his work involving folding paper, Origami Tessellations, and 3D polyhedrons. In the Origami community, he is regarded as a pioneering designer who explored the architectural potential of 3D tessellated structures in the 1960s and ’70s. In addition to his art, he focused his professional and academic career on computer-aided design and computer graphics.

Life, Major Achievements and Contribution to the Origami World

While studying art at the University of Iowa (1959), Ron Resch started to investigate patterns that paper folds into, when just “wrinkling it, sort of crumpling sheet of paper” (quote from Ron Resch). That started a decade-long intense discovery and art creation. Resch later on documented his work and approach in the 1992 “Paper and Stick” film. From 1959 into the mid-1970s Resch made numerous discoveries of original tessellations, explored curved folding, presented his art at multiple exhibitions. He leveraged computer-aided design in his artwork, for example in the Two Kissing Cones model.

Upon graduating from the University of Iowa with a Master on Fine Arts degree in 1966, Resch went on to become Assistant Professor of Computer Science at University of Illinois (1967 - 1969), Assistant Professor, Computer Science Department at University of Utah (1969 - 1978) and then Associate Research Professor in the Department of Computer Science, College of Liberal Arts/Graduate School at Boston University (1978 - 1984). From 1984 onwards Resch continued his career in the private sector.

Ron Resch's body of work is not limited to origami. He famously designed the Vegreville egg, the first physical structure designed entirely with computer-aided geometric modeling software (dedicated in 1976). Resch also worked on the special effects team of the “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” 1979 movie, designing multiple structures for the film, including the geometric design of the space station Epsilon IX.

Major Contribution

The invention of novel geometric patterns for 3D tessellations and corrugations. Pioneer in the curved folding.

Exhibitions

Nov 1967, “Made with Paper Show”, Museum of Contemporary Craft, New York, NY (photos)
1972, "Ron Resch and the Computer", a one-man show, Utah Museum of Art, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah (photos)
May 23, 1974, "Ronald Resch: Flexible Structures", a one man show, sponsored by and held at the Graham Foundation, Chicago, Illinois (photos)
June 14-17 2007: "The Paper Lab" at The Design Annual - "inside: private identity", Festhalle, Messe Frankfurt, Germany. (photos)

External Links/Additional Sources

Authored by: Dmitry Miller