How to Make an Origami Vertigo

ByFlorent Fabre

Designer: Francesco Mancini

Let’s fold the Vertigo, a twelve-unit modular cube designed by Francesco Mancini. Hold the finished model at two opposite corners, twist, and the whole cube compresses into a rhombic dodecahedron. Let go and it opens back out.

This is the first action origami on the site. Action models are folded to move, and this one earns the name. It looks good sitting on a shelf, and it is very hard to leave it there.

Difficulty: Easy – Beginner level 5
Folding time: 1:30 to 1:45 hours

Early Access for Origami Friends

Want to fold this model today? It’s available right now for Origami Friends before it’s released to everyone.

Support Origami.me and get instant access, plus the full PDF library, early releases, partner discounts, and an ad-free site.

Unlock early access with Origami Friends

$2/month · cancel anytime

Author Florent Fabre

Hi, I’m Flo, and I’m the hands behind Origami.me.

After spending more than five years immersed in Japanese culture, I slowly fell in love with origami and the quiet focus that comes with folding paper. What started as simple curiosity became a real passion, not only for the art itself, but also for the calm, creativity, and mindfulness it brings to everyday life.

Today, I create tutorials, work with origami artists from around the world, and help beginners discover that anyone can learn origami, one fold at a time.

Designer Francesco Mancini

Francesco Mancini is an Italian origami designer whose work ranges from modular stars and polyhedra to animals, boxes, and tessellations. Playful yet precise, his folds turn geometry into art.

Diagrammer Peter Buchan-Symons

Peter Buchan-Symons is an Oxford-based origami designer who has been folding paper since childhood. With a love for clean, intuitive instructions, he creates many of the diagrams you’ll find on Origami.me and in our membership. Peter’s models blend creativity with the crisp logic of his mathematics background, making his work both fun to fold and easy to follow.