Kirigami

Winner of the Swift Student Challenge 2025

About the App

This app brings the simple joy of Japanese kirigami to people of all ages and cultures, offering an interactive experience that transcends boundaries. By sharing this simple yet creative activity with others, the app helps bridge the gap between people and foster deeper connections in an increasingly disconnected world.

User Experience & Frameworks

I first became fascinated with “kirigami,” the theme of this app, through a childhood experience making decorations for Tanabataa Japanese festival held every July 7th, where, much like hanging ornaments on a Christmas tree, people write wishes on small paper strips or create paper ornaments (kirigami) to place on bamboo leaves. As part of that preparation, I would fold paper, make small cuts, and then open it up to reveal a surprisingly intricate pattern. I was struck by how something so simple could produce such beautiful results. Working on these decorations alongside my grandparents and friends naturally bridged our generational and cultural differences, revealing that “even a simple craft can be enjoyed by anyone and foster shared, comfortable moments”—the heart of kirigami’s attractiveness.

However, in recent years, families and communities have grown more disconnected, and opportunities for cross-generational, cross-cultural interaction have diminished. That prompted me to recreate kirigami’s “simple yet profound excitement” on the iPad, enabling people of different ages and backgrounds to have fun together. Hence, I developed “Kirigami.” Right after launch, it presents an animated depiction of the “opening” moment—arguably the most thrilling part of folding, cutting, and unfolding—so that users can immediately sense the allure of kirigami. I leveraged SwiftUI’s animation features to implement smooth, lightweight motions with concise code.

In the main feature, “Kirigami Playground,” users can freely customize the number of folds or the shape of the cuts and preview their patterns in real-time. Kirigami carries a unique thrill: “You don’t know the shape until you actually open the paper.” By combining SwiftUI’s ZStack, ForEach, and other APIs, I can instantly render the difference between the folded state and the final design. The result is an experience that, while rooted in a simple traditional pastime, brings out deep creativity.

I built the app around SwiftUI to emphasize intuitive interactions that respond instantly to user input. Although I did not incorporate any external AI tools, I benefited greatly from Xcode’s code completion, which offered suggestions and streamlined the development process.

Ultimately, the user experience I aimed to deliver is “discovering the joy of making something together, bridging generations and cultures—all through kirigami.” People can easily explore kirigami’s appeal, craft their own patterns or seasonal motifs, and share that excitement with friends and family. This is how “Kirigami” strives to address the issue of weakened communication. Swift provided a powerful foundation to bring this simple yet deeply engaging kirigami experience to life.

Third-Party Content

The background music used in the app is sourced from the Japanese free BGM website DOVA-SYNDROME and complies with the provider's licensing terms.