Origami Workshop with Colossal Media in NYC

At Taro’s Origami Studio, we often work with creative teams who are deeply skilled in their own art form, but are looking for a way to explore something entirely different. That was exactly the case when Senior Artist Frank Ling led a custom origami workshop for the team at Colossal Media in New York City.

A Company Built on Craft and Scale

Colossal Media is widely known for its hand-painted murals.  They define the visual landscape of cities across the country, specializing in large-scale advertising.  Making about 400 to 500 murals each year, the company takes a traditional, analog approach in a digital world.  They paint these massive works by hand with precision, craftsmanship, and an incredible attention to detail. Their artists work on scaffolding and scissor lifts instead of screens, translating designs into bold, highly visible public art.

From Walls to Paper: A Shift in Perspective

For this workshop, Colossal was looking for a respite from a lot of recent company meetings. Frank Ling introduced the Colossal Media team to origami as a way to explore similar artistic principles on a completely different scale. Instead of the scale of a building, they focused on art at their fingertips. The shift in medium helped foster a sense of curiosity and engagement, as the team enjoyed trying something new.

Frank began by sharing insights into the structure and logic behind origami, helping participants understand how complex forms can emerge from a single sheet of paper. He then guided the group through a series of models designed to highlight clean lines, geometric thinking, and spatial awareness—concepts that resonated strongly with a team accustomed to translating flat designs into the real world.

A Hands-On Creative Reset

Colossal team members worked through each step together, helping one another refine folds and troubleshoot tricky moments. For many of them, origami offered a rare opportunity to slow down and engage with a tactile, detail-oriented process that differed from the fast-paced nature of commercial mural production.

The experience also encouraged a different kind of problem-solving. Origami requires patience, sequencing, and an understanding of how each action affects the final form, mirroring the layered planning that goes into large-scale mural work, but in a more hands-on format.

What made this event especially meaningful was the way it highlighted the universality of creative thinking. Whether painting a multi-story mural or folding a small paper model, the underlying skills like observation, precision, and artistic intuition remain the same. By stepping into a new medium, the Colossal Media team was able to reconnect with those fundamentals in a fresh and engaging way.

At Taro’s Origami Studio, we see this kind of cross-disciplinary exploration as essential. Origami doesn’t have to be just an activity, it’s also a tool for thinking differently, approaching challenges from new angles, and rediscovering the joy of making something by hand.

Bringing Origami to Creative Teams

We were proud to work with Colossal Media and bring this experience to a team whose work already shapes the visual identity of cities. Workshops like this demonstrate how origami can complement and enhance creative professions, offering a new lens through which to view design, structure, and process.

If your team is looking for a unique, hands-on experience that encourages creativity, collaboration, and fresh thinking, Taro’s Origami Studio offers fully customized workshops tailored to your industry, goals, and group dynamic.

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