What is Airigami?

Airigami is the art of folding paper to make scale model aircraft. (Airplane + Origiami = Airigami … get it?) The current Airigami design was initially developed in the early 1990s at a time when lines such as Herpa and Gemini Jets were nowhere near as widely available, and even when die-cast models were available they represented a limited number of airlines and were rarely current in terms of livery or aircraft types. Even when die-cast models became more prolific, their price tag meant they were out of reach especially for many children who aspired to build collections of their favourite planes.

Airigami was released to a wider audience in 2002, with simple designs that could be constructed with no more than paper, scissors, tape, and glue. Though Airigami has been on hiatus for over a decade, it is now back as Papier Avion with new designs as well as an archive of designs from the original Airigami site. We hope that Papier Avion and Airigami will continue to make collecting airplane models more accessible to a wide audience.

Papier Avion and Airigami designs are provided free-of-charge – you should never, ever pay for these designs. However, we strongly urge you to consider donating to Airigami at www.papieravion.org. Airigami was established so that the joy of airline modeling can be available to everybody. Please consider making a donation of $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can to help keep Airigami alive and, best of all, free.