There are a ton of absolutely fantastic origami bears out there so in this post we’re going to take a look at some of our favourites. I hope you’re pre-beared!

First up is very life-like looking bear. The paper used here is really awesome and looks quite like fur.

Bear, Designed by Nicolas Terry and Folded by Mariano Zavala B.

Diagrams available in Passion Origami

Seth Friedman designed another excellent quite life-like looking bear. Here it is photographed at a convention back in 2014. The face in this design looks awesome and kind of dopey, like it just woke up from hibernation.

Grizzly Bear, Designed and Folded by Seth Friedman (Photo by Willie G. Crespo)

Diagrams available in the 19th Tanteidan Convention book

Here is a much less complex design that uses wet folding to make those excellent, organic looking curves.

Curved Bear, Designed by Joao Charrua and Folded by Juanfran Carrillo

Instructions not available

This is something very different from most of the other bears in this post. This model is on display at the Chimei Museum in Taiwan and I really like the individually folded claws on the hands and feet.

Bear, Designed and Folded by 簡單的度過-2

Instructions not available

Pandas are technically not bears but this one looks just so great that I needed to include it. It changes things up a bit too which is always good.

Panda, Designed by Yoo Tae Yong and Folded by J.W Park

Diagrams available in Origami Pro

I like how this bear looks both ferocious and kind of goofy at the same time.

Bear, Designed and Folded by Choi Ju Young

Instructions not available

Here’s something very different. It’s quite impressive how the colour change is used here to make that arrow line.

Heart Line Bear, Designed and Folded by Bernie Peyton (Photo by Michelle Fung)

Instructions not available

Beth Johnson designed one of the most unique looking bears out there which uses a tessellation pattern like many of her models.

Bear, Designed and Folded by Beth Johnson (Photo by Michelle Fung)

Instructions not available

Changing things up a little bit again we have a teddy bear which technically fits into the category of bears. This model also uses some fantastic colour changes for the details.

Teddy Bear, Designed by Marc Kirschenbaum and Folded by Mariano Zavala B.

Video instructions available from Mariano Zavala B.’s YouTube channel

Here’s another fantastic bear design and I like the heaviness you can sort of feel in this design.

Bear, Designed and Folded by József Zsebe

Diagrams available in Fold Line

This next model is very impressive because it’s folded from an uncut square of copper metal! The metal must have been heated up to make it soft enough to fold.

Bear 1997, Designed and Folded by József Zsebe

Diagrams available in Paper and Form

I really like this next model. This is a Jucumari or Spectacled Bear. It’s apparently the last species of short-faced bear in the world. I really like how that front paw is lifted up like it’s walking but it’s still folded from paper so it’s completely thin and flat.

Jucumari, Designed by Nguyen Hung Cuong and Folded by Gonzalo

Diagrams available in VOG: 50 Hours of Origami+

Here’s an adorable whole family of bears!

Bear Family, Designed and Folded by Gen Hagiwara

Instructions not available

Here’s another very excellent little bear cub.

Bear Cub, Designed by Shuki Kato and Folded by Jan Groot

Diagrams available in Origami Nature Study

This is the first bear Tetsuya Gotani ever designed. It looks quite fantastic for a first attempt!

Bear, Designed and Folded by Tetsuya Gotani

Instructions not available

Here are more fantastic wet folded bears. I love how expressive these simple looking models are.

Curve Bears, Designed and Folded by João Charrua

Instructions not available

Quentin Trollip designed this ferocious looking bear and there are lots of different options for how you want to pose it.

Bear, Designed by Quentin Trollip and Folded by Gonzalo

Diagrams available in Origami Sequence

Koalas again technically aren’t bears but this is the best origami koala I’ve ever seen so I had to include it here.

Koala, Designed by David Llanque and Folded by Eyal

Diagrams available in Mini Neo #10

Here’s a newer version of József Zsebe’s posed on top of a paper rock.

Bear on Rock, Designed and Folded by József Zsebe

Diagrams available in Paper and Form

This is another really unique and great idea for this design.

Erkner Bear, Designed and Folded by Sebastien Limet

Crease pattern available in the photo

Pandas again technically aren’t bears but this is also one of the best origami pandas I’ve seen out there so I had to include it too.

Giant Panda, Designed by Fumiaki Kawahata and Folded by Eyal

Instructions not available

Here’s Quentin Trollip’s excellent bear again with some really fantastic claws.

Bear, Designed and Folded by Quentin Trollip

Diagrams available in Origami Sequence

Sebastien Limet has some of the best ideas for origami designs. This particular model is designed to send an anti-fur message.

Fur You, Designed and Folded by Sebastien Limet

Instructions not available

Here’s a really great grizzly bear and cub in a series of great poses.

Grizzly Bear designed by Quentin Trollip and Cub Designed by Joshua Goutam, Both Folded by Eyal

Grizzly diagrams available in Origami Sequence – Cub diagrams available in Works of Joshua Goutam vol. 1

Daniel Chang works with children and teenagers and he designed this incredible model which makes a pretty powerful statement. This model is a fantastic example of how you can use this art form to create a powerful message.

Childhood, Designed and Folded by Daniel Chang

Instructions not available

This awesome bear uses two coloured paper and a colour change so you get a different colour for the fish that it’s eating. This is a variation of Quentin Trollip’s more famous bear and salmon design.

Lunch Time, Designed and Folded by Quentin Trollip

Instructions not available

Here’s one more panda that I just had to include since it’s so adorable.

Panda, Designed by Red Paper and Folded by lichangzhenba

Instructions not available

Our final model for this post is this adorable rolling bear cub and parent. The sense of movement here is fantastic. A lot of the images in this particular post show how origami can be used to create something a bit deeper or more artistic than just folding a representation of some kind of animal or something.

If that makes sense.

Tumbling Little Bear, Designed and Folded by Gen Hagiwara

Instructions not available

What did you think about these origami bears? Let us know in the comments!