Big Shiny Balls started almost by accident.
In 2022, Miami artist Shawn Kolodny was preparing a large installation for the Art With Me music festival in Miami. He tracked down giant inflatable spheres and, with Jules, blew a few of them up by the pool as a test. They filmed it. That video went on to draw around 40 million views on Instagram.
Then came the messages: hundreds a day, all asking the same thing. Where do you get those?
"What are they? Oh, big shiny balls."
Shawn answered fast. He bought a domain, put up what he now calls "the jankiest-looking website in the world," and named the company after the most obvious description he could think of. Jules, who had spent years helping tech brands find product-market fit, noticed that it broke every rule in the startup playbook. Demand came first, and the brand followed.
Jules started out helping with marketing. Within a short time, the business had grown so much that she closed her own agency to run it with Shawn full time. Big Shiny Balls officially launched as a company in January 2023.
From a pool to the world's biggest stages
Since then, Shawn and Jules have taken their work from a Miami studio to some of the biggest stages in the world. That includes a giant friendship bracelet for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour at the Superdome, pieces for the halftime show stage at the FIFA World Cup final, a custom ball for Olivia Dean's performance at the 2026 Grammys, and silver spheres above the runway at Missoni's Spring 2024 show in Milan.
Big Shiny Balls is the shop for ready-to-order shapes and sizes. For one-of-a-kind builds, from a 30-foot elephant to a giant friendship bracelet, its sister studio, Kolossal Arts, takes a sketch or a 3D model all the way to installation.
Still made for real life
"We like things to be big," Shawn says, "but we don't just make big things; we make big moments." In a world where people often assume what they see online is computer-generated, the goal is simple: real things you can stand next to, at a scale that stops you in your tracks.
