[Boston] Origami Classes @ Lego Headquarters

Origami Workshops at LEGO’s Boston Headquarters

At Taro’s Origami Studio, founded by origami master Taro Yaguchi, we love partnering with organizations that already have creativity woven into their culture. That made our recent visit to The LEGO Group headquarters in Boston especially exciting. Senior Artists Ben Friesen and Frank Ling were invited to lead a series of hands-on origami workshops for LEGO staff members, introducing teams to a different kind of building process—one based not on bricks, but on folds.

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Travel

For this event in Boston, the team traveled up the day before with some quick flights and a scenic Amtrak ride.  After some minimal travel around town to locate the headqaurters, Frank and Ben planned out the event by choosing models that would fit the team.  This event was also done in conjunction with AANHPI (Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) Month in the United States, so they brought a quick presentation about the history of origami and its connections to those cultures.

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From the moment we arrived, it was clear that LEGO’s workplace is designed to inspire imagination. The offices are filled with colorful installations, playful architectural details, collaborative spaces, and displays that celebrate creativity at every scale.  If you look closely, you can even see the light fixtures are shaped to look like the iconic studs of the LEGO bricks.

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From Building Blocks to Folded Forms

Ben began the session with an introduction to the artistic and historical foundations of origami, discussing how folded paper has evolved from traditional Chinese and Japanese craft into a modern art form connected to mathematics, engineering, and design. From there, Frank and him guided participants through a progression of models that increased in complexity throughout the workshop.

Although origami and LEGO use completely different materials, the connection between the two practices has always been strong. Both disciplines rely on spatial reasoning, sequencing, structural thinking, and the ability to visualize how small individual actions contribute to a larger finished form.  In fact, Ben even described origami modulars as being a lot like building with LEGOs .  Because of this, and perhaps unsurprisingly, the LEGO staff adapted to origami incredibly quickly.

As teams folded together, staff members compared techniques, helped one another refine difficult steps, and celebrated successful folds the same way builders might celebrate solving a particularly satisfying design challenge.  The classes were structured in 30 minute segments, but a group of them stayed well over their allotted time to continue to fold new models.

The highlights were Frank teaching his very own Dragon model, and then Ben teaching a smaller group how to made an origami fidget spinner toy using three different sheets of paper that interlock.

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Creativity Through Constraint

One of the most interesting parallels between LEGO and origami is the role of creative constraint. In LEGO construction, innovation emerges from working within the limits of a defined system of pieces. Origami operates similarly: a single square sheet of paper contains endless possibilities, but every decision must work within the structural logic of the folding sequence.

That shared mindset made the workshop especially rewarding on both ends. Origami encouraged guests to slow down, think spatially, and engage with a tactile creative process that while still deeply connected to the same design instincts they use professionally, ended up being a different way to approach it.

And for the Taro’s Origami staff, the event was a chace to teach some higher level models to a group of people that already had an innate ability to think creatively.

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A Shared Philosophy of Play

What made this partnership feel so natural was the overlap in philosophy between LEGO and the world of origami. Both practices transform simple materials into something imaginative, both reward patience & curiosity, and both remind us that creativity often begins with the willingness to explore, experiment, and occasionally fail before discovering something remarkable.

We were honored to spend time with the LEGO team and share origami with a group so deeply connected to creativity and design culture. Their enthusiasm, openness, and willingness to dive into the folding process made the workshop a pleasure to teach.

After the workshop ended, the LEGO team generously gave us a tour of the offices, offering a behind-the-scenes look at how their environment encourages experimentation, design thinking, and hands-on problem-solving. The team was delighted to explore the office and see their approach on fostering creativity.

Oh and Ben and Frank got to meet Yoda and write on their brick wall.  Fun stuff.

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Bringing Origami to Creative Teams

At Taro’s Origami Studio, we create customized workshops for companies, museums, schools, and organizations looking to offer hands-on creative experiences that encourage collaboration and fresh thinking. Whether teaching simple introductory models or highly advanced sculptural designs, our goal is always the same: to help people reconnect with the joy of making something with their own hands.

If your team is interested in hosting an origami workshop or creative activation, we’d love to help design an experience tailored to your organization.