I have created a range of commissioned works for commercial projects, some of which are shown on this page. They illustrate just a bit of what is possible with origami used for commercial advertising. (See my page on monumental origami for further examples.) To make a figure look right for advertising, various origami genres can be called upon, ranging from purist “one-sheet, no cuts” folding, to “composite” (i.e., multi-sheet) origami. Having worked extensively in all of these genres, I can create whatever you need for your own project; please contact me with your ideas and requirements with your ideas and requirements, and, if available, the following information:
- Storyboards, showing the origami you are after (even rough sketches are fine)
- The type of usage (display, advertising); if advertising, where it will be used, which media, number of insertions
- Timetable for the project: when you’d expect the project to start, how soon you’d need finished artwork
The images below show selected samples of my past commercial work. I can, of course, draw upon the hundreds of designs shown in my art galleries and routinely design new figures to meet specific client requirements.
A typical figure is the man in the image below, created for the BMC Software Annual Report, produced by Easterly & Co. This figure was one of a series of partial stages of folding, showing the evolution from the original uncut sheet of paper to the fully folded figure. I developed several human figures for the client, who selected this one for its slightly “heroic” character, as best conveying the desired characteristics of the represented company.
I have contributed origami to several projects in which the artwork was animated. For a 2005 Toyota Avalon commercial, the commercial called for a sheet of newspaper to tumble along the ground and, as the Avalon drives by, it folds itself into a rabbit, which hops away. For this project, I worked with production company RSA, Ltd., folding one rabbit for the camera (which film was subsequently used as a reference for the animated folded sequence), and folded a second exhibition-quality figure used as reference for the final digital model. The commercial aired throughout the fall of 2005.
By far the most extensive TV commercial I have done was this effort for the 2006 Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV, created by MJZ Productions for BBDO New York. The commercial called for the Endeavor to drive through a world composed entirely of origami. For this project, I teamed up with fellow origami artist Linda Tomoko Mihara, which whom I have now collaborated on several projects. We spent a week of 14-hour days in Hollywood designing, folding, and managing the construction of tens of designs and hundreds of origami figures. The figure to the right links to a QuickTime animation of the entire commercial. Everything you see is either filmed folded paper or (for the moving objects) a computerized animation of a folded object! A description of the making of the commercial with many production photographs is here.
In 2006, I completed a series of pieces for a McDonald’s TV commercial produced for Burrell Communications that aired first at a franchisee convention and then was selected for TV broadcast in various metropolitan markets in mid-2006. For this hip-hop themed commercial, I created a boombox and a range of human characters adorned with chains, Kangol hats, and other accessories—all folded from McDonald’s cheeseburger wrappers! (A little behind-the-scenes magic: they were actually folded from origami paper printed with the cheeseburger wrapper pattern.)