Robert Lang has spent most of his life turning paper into art. According to CBS News, the 65-year-old origami artist has created more than 800 designs and is considered one of the leading figures in the field.
That work was upended at the start of 2025, when the Eaton Fire destroyed the Altadena home he shared with his wife, Diane, along with the studio where many of his pieces were made. Lang said he videotaped the flames as they consumed the space and quickly realized his life would have to take a different path.
Among the losses were hundreds of completed works, including many of his intricate insects and arthropods. The only finished piece he was able to save was an origami cuckoo clock from 1987, according to CBS News.
Friends in the paper-art world stepped in to help, including Richard Alexander and Michael LaFosse of Origamido Studios in Massachusetts. Using ashes gathered from Lang’s studio, they helped create new paper that Lang used to fold a fresh wall of koi, bringing part of his studio back to life in a new work called “Vertical Pond III.”
The installation has been shown at Descanso Gardens near Altadena and is now on view at San Diego’s Mingei International Museum through November. Lang says origami continues to give him a sense of purpose as he rebuilds his life one crease at a time.
