Michael G. LaFosse decided he would be an origami artist in 1971, after reading (and rereading) a Readers' Digest article by Leland Stowe, about the amazing folded art of Japanese Master Akira Yoshizawa. An avid teacher, LaFosse co-founded the Origamido Studio, a learning center and design studio dedicated to the art of origami, and the only place in the world specializing in hand papermaking for the origami artist. A biologist by training, LaFosse is one of the most celebrated natural history origami artists. He has spent decades studying plants and animals and re-creating them in detailed folded paper projects. He has also created hundreds of designs now seen in exceptional exhibitions, and published in dozens of books, kits, and videos.

Richard L. Alexander met LaFosse in 1988, and together they have produced exhibitions and publications about paper art and origami. Alexander has worked with LaFosse full time since 2003, and since then has made all of the Origamido handmade paper. Alexander also teaches and designs origami, while being responsible for photography, videography, commercial projects, and managing the Origamido Studio gallery spaces and exhibitions.