OrigaMIT Convention 2026

What do you do at an origami convention?

• Take classes on how to fold specific origami models
• Browse a high quality origami exhibition
• Purchase origami paper and books
• Meet other origami enthusiasts, have fun, and fold paper!

The convention is open to anyone who would like to participate! Registration cost for this convention will be $20, which is quite cheap in comparison to other origami conventions. MIT students can register at a discounted rate of $5. A limited number of discounted registrations are also available for large groups or financial situations; please email us for more information. Walk-in registration is possible, but in order to cover the costs of lateness and to encourage early registration, the cost will raise to $30 after October 24th ($10 for MIT students), so register early! The registration form is at the bottom of this page. Payment options are listed on the form; For people who selected the "pay at check-in" option or people doing walk-in registration, feel free to bring cash to pay at convention check in.

This year, all convention activities will occur in the same building, the MIT Student Center. Registration will start at 9am on the second floor in room W20-208. This room is MIT's Lobdell Dining Hall that can comfortably hold over 250 people and will serve as the main headquarters at convention. In the morning, please check in at our registration desk in W20-208. There you will:

• Check in
• Pay your registration fee
• Get some paper, info, map, and schedule
• Make a name tag
• Order/pay for lunch or dinner

For those coming in from out of town, there are a number of hostels and hotels in the area, but book soon; rooms in Boston book quickly! For those driving in, there is lots of free parking around MIT's campus, but there can be many events on campus during the weekend, and it may be difficult to find parking. Please refer to the guidelines on MIT's Parking Page for more information about MIT parking regulations and locations. There is also metered parking on the street.

Classes range in difficulty from simple, low through high intermediate, to complex; beginners and veterans alike will find classes to satisfy their curiosity! The class schedule is available at this link. The image below represents a summary of the where and when the convention activities will be taking place; all the details are listed in the link above. Look through the class descriptions and make a plan for the classes you plan to attend throughout the day! Some classes may require you to bring and prepare paper in a specific way, so check the details. Some classes may also fill up quickly, as they are first come first serve. Also make sure to bring the paper required for the classes you're planning on attending. Complementary 15cm and 25cm kami will be available near where the vending tables are.

There will be no ticketing for classes; admittance will be based on a first come first serve basis, so please be flexible to make sure there is space for everyone. Also, please don't get in over your head! If you've never been to an origami convention before, this OrigamiUSA document on classroom etiquette is a useful read.

There will be no ticketing for classes; admittance will be based on a first come first serve basis, so please be flexible to make sure there is space for everyone. As is customary at MIT, each class will start 5 minutes past the hour and end 5 minutes before the hour. Please arrive on time! Also, please don't get in over your head! If you've never been to an origami convention before, this OrigamiUSA document on classroom etiquette is a useful read.

This year, we are excited to have two special guests attending the convention, Youngwoong Kim and Byriah Loper!

Born in 2002, Youngwoong Kim, also known as Origami Kimiro, is an origami creator and artist known for his highly detailed, hyperrealistic models. He runs the YouTube channel @origamikimiro, where he shares his origami design process and tutorials. Kimiro also collaborates with leading origami artists in Korea, expanding his activities in exhibitions, lectures, workshops, and content creation across various fields.

In 2026, Kimiro organized the Kimiro and Origami Festival at Dopamine Station in I'Park Mall Yongsan in Seoul. The event attracted more than 30,000 visitors over six days, demonstrating the appeal of origami for audiences beyond the traditional origami community.

Kimiro was also a special guest at the 2026 Origami Tanteidan Convention in Tokyo, where he presented his work to an international origami audience. Through his art, content creation, and public events, Kimiro aims to develop origami beyond a hobby into a contemporary cultural and artistic form.

Byriah Loper is an origami artist known for his spectacular modular works and pleated tessellations. His interest in origami began early with the discovery of a paper airplane calendar, which inspired him to try more complicated folding projects. Loper soon discovered modular origami and has since designed and folded over 1,000 original works, including representational designs, tessellations, and a variety of types of modulars including kusudamas and flat stars. However, the central focus of his design work and his area of expertise has been the development of complex interlocking three dimensional geometric structures, known as Wireframes.

Byriah’s origami has been exhibited throughout the world in museums and universities, and he has also reached wide audiences through his teaching. He was a featured artist in the Surface to Structure exhibition at the Cooper Union school in New York in 2014, the Origami Universe exhibition at the Chi Mei Museum in Taipei in 2016, and the Into the Fold exhibition at the Science Museum in Oklahoma City in 2018. He has been a guest instructor at the annual OrigamiUSA convention and the Origami Tsunami Convention, has presented and exhibited his work at various universities and has developed artworks for banks and private commissions.

Byriah is also the author of two well-known books on modular origami: Mind-Blowing Modular Origami, published in November 2016, and Mind Blowing Kusudama Origami published in March 2024. He is currently in the process of developing a third book.

Some famous origami artists and designers that have attended this convention in past years are:

• Brian Chan
• Erik Demaine
• Seth Friedman
• Michelle Fung
• Rebecca Gieseking
• Eric Gjerde
• Bodo Haag
• Tom Hull
• Jason Ku
• Paul Jackson
• Ekaterina Lukasheva
• Michael LaFosse
• Robert Lang
• Sipho Mabona
• Jeannine Mosely
• Meenakshi Mukerji
• Chris Palmer
• Oriol Esteve
• Won Park
• Sok Song
• John Szinger
• Wensdy Whitehead
• Joseph Wu
• Beth Johnson
• Boice Wong
• Michael Nguyen
• John Montroll

We will host a small origami exhibition at this convention combining models from OrigaMIT's permanent collection, as well as models brought by convention attendees. If you are bringing models to exhibit, we will be accepting models in the main convention area, starting at 8:30am. We will allocate exhibition space based on a first come, first serve basis. Come set up early!

Food is not included in the cost of registration. There are many dining options available in and near the MIT Student Center (Dunkin, Concord Market, Flour bakery, Oath pizza, etc.).

To help accommodate convention attendees, OrigaMIT will also be placing an order for both lunch and dinner on the morning of convention for food to be delivered to the convention location. If you would be interested in joining in our order, please indicate your preference on your registration form and bring money to give us on the morning of convention. Lunch will likely be pizza and $5 per person. Dinner will likely be Chinese food and $10. We may not be able to support all dietary restrictions, so please ask before ordering. Of course you are free to find or bring your own food!

We have put together a new 2026 OrigaMIT Convention Book, which is a collection of origami diagrams and crease patterns! Copies will be available for purchase at $25.

Past OrigaMIT convention books will be available for $15 each, with limited supply. You can see the cover and table of contents for the 2018 Convention book here. We may reprint books again after this convention if there is a demand, so please let us know if you are interested in purchasing one.

We will have stylish new OrigaMIT Convention t-shirts, as well as shirts from last year! The front and back designs for this year's t-shirt are shown in the image below! This t-shirt will be available for purchase at $25 per shirt.

To register for the 2026 OrigaMIT convention, please fill out the following form. If the form is not available, please sign in to your Google account and reload the page. The link is here.

Preregistration will end on October 24th, 2026. Regular registration is available on the morning of November 7th at $30 per person, and $10 for MIT students.