You’ve seen the work of Japan’s greatest origami artist, so how about America’s best? The New Yorker recently profiled Robert J. Lang, a research scientist from California who turned his hobby into a rewarding career in paper-artistry:

Lang is accustomed to being surprising. Some years ago, he was the mystery guest on the television game show “Naruhodo! Za Warudo”—the Japanese version of “What’s My Line?”—and he amazed the audience and the contestants, because they couldn’t believe that an American could be an origami expert. People who know him as a scientist are flabbergasted when they hear that he is one of the world’s foremost paper-folding artists, and are often surprised that such a thing as a professional origami artist even exists. People expecting him to be kooky—or, at the very least, Japanese—find his academic accomplishments and his white male Americanness puzzling.

For more information about Lang, check out his website, which includes a very cool gallery of his major works.