Have you noticed people’s unusual fascination with pop-ups? Grown men and women long past their teenage years are attracted to small paper buildups opening another world up the front of their eyes.
I think their attraction to such toys shows that everybody caresses a playful Child inside regardless of age. Our normally shown outside is Knight’s armor to defend ourselves from intolerant people without imagination and low self-esteem. This playfulness makes unbearable days easier and brings unquestionable benefits because people with smiles live longer, healthier, and happier lives. So Do not limit your happiness regardless of how silly the reason may appear to others.
Because of the health benefits a smile brings shouldn’t I consider myself a Healthcare provider? And charge people accordingly. I mean out of the blue and sky-high. If U.S. Congress a few years ago recognized pizza as a vegetable… in our country anything is possible.
Santoro is one of the most innovative publishers of pop-up greeting cards. Engineered, designed, and printed in the UK.
First, they searched for their soul, trying a few different design types before settling on a few proven ones.
Since they ventured outside of the pop-cards realm, I would not expect major changes in their offer.
Their energy is now applied in other directions. (Among other Real estate development)
But their selection is first class.
One of my observations is that their cards are divided into two parts.
!) Self-assembly (by the recipient – of course)
2) More complicated and elaborate Buildups.
All of them containing something movable, free-hanging elements.
I am a big fan of their (simple) “Swing Cards,” but when it comes to their “Pirouettes” and “Poprocks” and “Pendulum” cards, I think that they may be too complicated and too big to enjoy on everyday displays of their recipients. I think small is more beautiful than BIG. More intimate and better equipped to reach the hearts. But their popularity is telling me that I am wrong. One of the lessons I learned in the past is: do not underestimate your lesser achievements because they may be the top ones in public eyes. I still remember Chicago Art Institute Buyer, who chose, to my surprise, not the best-designed Glass Flowers, when to enlarge my offering. I included some (In my eyes) lesser designs in a bunch of my samples they requested.
Going back to the Santoro. They are an excellent destination for your gift offerings.
When I first saw “Up with Paper” greeting cards I was impressed with their small square cards. Their traditional book format was something new in the right size, and they were a success story with virtually no competition. Graphic3D existed much longer but was and still is invisible, focusing on a steady business market. Far away from the hustle and bustle of retail. I think “Up with Paper” initial success was not justified for a period of time because their made in China cards did not stand out exactly with their quality. Their rough-cut pieces glued together did not make an impression when inspected close up. It changed, and now you can enjoy well made and designed cards with nice simple artwork. I do not see any new concepts, but as with every established business, they focus on their proved holdings. A nice choice for occasional mailings to your friends and family. They also try their hands on a small collection of pop-up books. I am less impressed with it, but they addressed it to kids, and apparently, some kids enjoy their work.
When my wife and kid enjoyed the warm beaches during our annual Florida vacation, an active person like me scouting for unusual and beautiful, found in the local museum collection of pop-up books by Vojtěch Kubašta. Paper “Umelec”(Artist In the Czech language) put the old-world’s overwhelming charm into the pop-up world. In Florida, unexpectedly, I was back in Prague still remembering the charm of the Old City, The antiquariat where I was buying the 19 century, old human anatomy books with wonderfully illustrated pop-up cut out of organs you can move to see the next layer of the human body. The “Wlasky salad” and “housky” buns I was buying in the neighborhood store every morning.
Vojtech Kubasta was able to transfer the charm of the old-world into the pages of his books. For me, it was a sudden transfer into the charming and long-forgotten world.
The language I was able to master enough to start reading books in Czech quickly. Places where everybody wishes you a Good day regardless if you know anybody there. The strange way the coffee is served and people keep utensils when they are eating. During the fall, the dark sweet cherries I was eating sitting among the branches of huge cheery tries in an old palace park—the dark memory of the day I had to leave this newly discovered and charming world behind. After so many years, it still hurts.
Hej, Wake up. I have heard the voice of my wife. The curator of the Fort Lauderdale museum asked about the Vojtech Kucasta books’ collection agreed to show to us, my family, the treasures in his possession. I wish you the same experience.
But please do not go to Prague for the Beer drinking trip. Lucky I was able to enjoy the old city before the era of tourist invasion. There still were old antique cars on the streets, dark cities after sunset, and beer number 10 showing without question automatically up the front of every new guest in the local “Wycep” (Pub)
It seems, during the last few years, everybody gets infected with the idea of pop-up greeting cards. Several companies started producing (in China & Vietnam) a bunch of pop-ups. Unfortunately,it is virtually impossible to distinguish one “original” design from another offered by the competition. The reason is that labor, especially labor of skilled and able to produce original artwork paper engineer is time-consuming and quite expensive, and there are so few really creative people around. It Is easier to grab already made Chinese designs. In effect, most offered pop-ups are generic, and in my humble opinion simply “Boring.” Looking at the flurry of colors and forms first is hard to catch the obvious, but after a while, it becomes apparent stopping us in our quest to find something unique for our valentines. The flood of mass-produced pop-ups is especially visible when we search for pop-up cards on the internet. There is the sea of Chinese-style trees, and over-sweetened and drowning in ornaments paper flowers, castles, hearts, motorcycles, paper steam locomotives, and Chinese dragons. Ourselves we received an email (through our Etsy shop) from a Vietnamese company offering its services but having the desire to offer only unique and beautiful of course we declined. If you followme, In the next few posts, I will show you the true gems of the paper word invisible in the flood of the run of the mill.
Invisible to the viewer’s eye, this tree is equipped with a string. Arrives flat in an envelope, and when removed and the string is pulled, the tree changes from 2D to 3DPaper Christmas Tree. The ingenious design allows this tree to serve as a standing pop-up or hanging paper Christmas Ornament. Thanks to our designer’s efforts, regardless of space or place, everybody can have a miniature Tree. Let us know if you like to see a subject close to your heart translated into a 3Dimensional paper sculpture. PaperBee.net
Are you looking for a neat gift to send to your friends? A company in Great Britain, “SANTORO” developed some quite nice 3-dimensional sculptures made, of course, from Paper. “Swing cards,” “Baubles,” “Piroquettes,” etc. What unusual is the number of new challenging types of construction they attempt to offer to their clients, A gift and card in one? You may be sure that your pop-up gift is not going bo tossed away right after Christmas time. Even better, they may survive the carnage of the coming months and show as decorations on your friend’s Christmas Tree next year.
Have you noticed people’s unusual fascination with pop-ups? Grown men and women long past their teenage years are attracted to small paper buildups opening another world up the front of their eyes.
When I first saw 
