Ever try to make a cube out of paper? It??????s hard. Add requirements like it must have three-inch sides, fit flat and disassembled in an enveloped, someone should be able to assemble it easily, and the cube should stay intact after assembly, and you??????re talking hours of frustration.

That??????s what we did today. We made cubes (without help from the Internet).

Our instructor, Steve, got this idea in the middle of the night last night. He wasn??????t sure if we would go for it for fear that we would think it beneath us. At the end of class he was glad we did it because it taught us something and he learned that we don??????t have a clue. He said it was a good thing for him to know.

If he wasn??????t so funny and tactful, I might have found that insulting. Instead, I laughed. We all did. After all, he was speaking the truth.

Steve is the kind of guy you can listen to for hours without ever being bored and most likely with a constant smirk on your face. And he??????s a great teacher because he??????s full of insight but at the same time seems like he??????s learning right along with you, like he doesn??????t know any more than you, or have any of the answers.

Despite the cube-making tangent, we are going forward with creating candle holders from paper that will pack into a flat 9??????x12?????? envelope. While the inspiration for the design is supposed to be representative of an industrial design firm of our choice, we are not to make an advertisement, but something of beauty. Honestly, I am very skeptical of my ability to accomplish this. My cube was not beautiful, and it barely functioned.

Orikaso Won’t Make You Sexy

I might have had an easier time creating my cube if I had ordered delivery pizza more often in my life, or perhaps analyzed any flat cardboard box that can be turned into a three-dimensional object that can hold stuff.

One really nifty product that relies on clever folds and tabs is the ??????superlight, ultracompact, easyclean, unbreakable?????? Orikaso fold flat tableware. From their web site:

Buy a product, buy a life! Our product won??????t make you younger, fitter, or more attractive to the opposite sex. Sorry!

The Orikaso products consist of a polypropylene plate, bowl, and mug that fold completely flat and can be assembled for use and disassembled for packing. Inspired by the cube dilemma and Steve??????s enthusiasm, I purchased a solo set tonight.

When I got it home, I immediately tried putting the tableware together. The plate took me about seven minutes to figure out. And I got pretty frustrated during the process because I didn??????t think the instructions were very good. But after I got it together, I was rewarded with amazement. I put together the mug next, which took less time, and was even more amazed by the result. Cool, cool stuff.

I plan to bring the set into class tomorrow. But my ultimate motivation is to perhaps learn something from the ingenuity of the products that I can bring to my candle holder design. But I??????m skeptical I??????ll pull it off.