Meet Phillip Koo | Modular Origami Artist | Pastor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Phillip Koo and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Phillip, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
How did we start? In 2017 my son who was 11 at the time was walking through a Chinese New Year Festival in Arlington, TX. It was there where he saw a shop vendor sell these small 3d origami pieces. There were several to choose from and he went ahead and bought a miniature bird.

What followed was intensive research and learning from a Brazilian 3d origami artist on YouTube named Pekeno. It was from his 3d origami tutoring video that we started to develop a love for folding and doing origami together. From there we piloted three original pieces: Captain America, a dragon, and Spiderman.

A few months later, we attempted to try and sell a couple pieces. It was a big hit as we sold three pieces right after one month of learning how to fold them. However, that’s also where we learned some “best practices” when it came to doing the business side of things.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What is the challenge that we have to overcome? The challenges came more from trying to keep up with the amount of custom orders versus pre-made pieces. There are many who like the idea of some of the original pieces I made, but there was a greater push to make more original art.

My son and I had to think about how to balance the custom-made orders versus the pre-made ones.

Other challenges came from finding the right types of paper. There is a difference between different types of paper. Paper weight makes a huge difference. There is construction paper, regular college-ruled paper, printing paper, card stock, etc. and all these different types change the shape and sizes of each piece.

We’ve had to try different pieces of paper for it to work. I’ve discovered 24lb paper (colored or regular printing paper) works best.

What problem(s) did we solve for our clients that sets us apart from others?
Your question, “What problem(s) did we solve for our clients that I believe sets us apart from others?” is an interesting one since we did not set out initially to “solve” any problem. We were artists that loved modular origami and thought it would be great to share that art with others. But what we soon realized was that there were many people that wished they either had the time to learn origami or wanted to do origami, but did not have the skills to do it.

So, in essence, it resolved a problem where there were many that wanted unique modular origami designs, but did not have the skills to do it. We could provide some of those unique, custom made pieces. On another end, we resolved another issue for customers who wanted unique gifts like mascots and other smaller designs that are not common in stores.

What are we most proud of and want clients to know about our brand?
Our 3d origami designs are complex and do not emulate store bought companies like Funko Pop, Hasbro-Legends, etc. We also do designs that you will not find in any other place, making our designs the most unique for any idea they have. Our customers can expect the following core values.

What is the core values of our creative process?
EXCELLENCE: Everything must stick — First rule, make sure every single piece is glued on. This was a huge lesson we needed to learn. The pieces don’t exactly stick well together without glue. If even one piece of origami is left loose then it can break at the weakest link.

IMAGINATION: Uniqueness in Creativity — Second rule, make sure original ideas and artwork is sketched out and set to potential buyers. What my mind perceives as beautiful art may not be something seen as acceptable by each individual buyer. Each piece must go through copious amounts of conversation back and forth to make sure the creativity matches what the buyer is imagining.

DURABILITY: Strength in numbers — Third rule, many of our pieces are folded with intentionality and put together to sustain drops and injury. Additionally, we make sure when shipping these pieces there is cushion and protection for the artwork. It was easy to presume that sticking it in a box would be adequate protection. We learned the hard way. It was not adequate to ship and give these pieces without protecting the artwork from the elements (such as rain or box stacking). We learned to add cushions and protection to each individual artwork we mail out.

It is from these three rules, not limited to them, that kind of grew the important core values this small business needed.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since, I have grown up eating Asian food, I would take them to alot of my favorite Asian places all over DFW and surrounding areas. This is not limited to these areas, but… 1. Pho and Grill
2. Edohana Hibachi and Grill
3. Hoya Korean Kitchen
4. K-town in Carrolton

We would visit several areas all over DFW:
1. Fort Worth Stockyards
2. FW Zoo, Botanical Gardens, and Museum
3. Go to the Trinity River and hike the entire area
4. Marine Creek Park

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I mentioned Pekeno as the Youtube artist that really gave us the inspiration to learn the art. He is the one that really platformed this idea. We are adding more to a design that has taken off from this Brazilian artist.

Website: www.instagram.com/kooragami

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kooragami

Facebook: www.facebook.com/kooragami

Image Credits
Phillip Koo