A colleague recently spent an extended time back home on Kythera, a lovely island in Greece:

Returning to work is never easy after such time away, but I can feel and understand her longing to return. This shell is meant to evoke dream memories of Kythera.

This is Toshiyuke Meguro’s shell, a glorious exploration of emergent geometry based around key folds that are 22.5 degrees from each other.

The pre-folding is mesmerising, using a spiral collapse to describe lines that are later harnessed in shaping the reverse side (which is every bit as beautiful as the presentation side).

I like that the model is so elegant, stable and holds itself together via a number of strategic “hide this mess away” tucks during the collapse. the spiral trace on the presentation side imposed after the collapse is also charming.

The curly spiral also reminds me of the symbolism in the movie “Moanna” that my son brought over to watch on the weekend – charming island culture also (albeit the other side of the planet from Kythera)

I have found folding this shell very therapeutic – marking and reporting are harrowing but I am glad to say over for now. Time for me also to engage is a little Kythera dreaming.