My MFA final project used books as the medium and folding as the main method to redesign traditional Chinese book binding forms. Unlike Western book design, book binding is considered to be an important component of book design in China. I was very interested in the term and wanted to explore and experiment with the shapes and forms of traditional Chinese book binding in a more contemporary language.
Among traditional Chinese book binding, the scroll, accordion, and dragon scale have the most direct relationship with folding in form and structure. I redesigned the accordion and dragon scale bindings respectively, and then created two structures of them combined together.
Here are various ways of folding the redesigned accordion and playing with its form. When it’s unfolded completely, it looks like four accordions. When everything is folded, it’s half the size of an accordion.