Robert J. Lang sells folded artworks and commissions for a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars each, depending on complexity and materials. Companies also hire him when an engineering problem involves folding, from air-bag design to expandable space telescopes.
Robert J. Lang spent 20 years in engineering, including more than 4 years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He worked as a physicist, engineer and R&D manager, and his site lists 50 patents to his name.
He sells his folded artworks, and when a piece you want is gone, he takes it on as a commission. Companies hire him when an engineering problem involves folding, such as a collapsible radio antenna. His consulting has ranged from air-bag design to expandable space telescopes, by his own account.
A folded work or a commission costs from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, depending on complexity and materials, he says on his site. He has not published what he charges companies for consulting.
He has not said publicly who his first paying client was. After he left his last engineering job in 2001 to become a full-time origami artist, NASA invited him back a couple of times to work on origami projects. He also consulted for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on its Eyeglass space telescope concept.
He works where 2 fields meet. He is one of the pioneers of combining origami with mathematics, and he has 20 years of engineering behind him. That mix lets him sell to art buyers and to companies with an engineering problem to solve.
Build your offer where your job meets a skill you practice outside it. Lang’s consulting sits where his 20 years of engineering meets his origami, so list the skills you use at work and the ones you use outside it, and look for the problems that need both.
Ask the teams you worked with whether they need your new skill. NASA invited Lang back a couple of times for origami projects after he left, so write down the teams you worked with and the problems you could solve for them now.
Publish a price range and say what moves it. Lang’s FAQ gives buyers a range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars, set by complexity and materials, so you can give your buyers a range and the 2 or 3 things that set the final price.
Sources: His website · His FAQ · Tech Briefs, October 2024
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