01 · City guide
Norwich, standing up
Six spreads for a local publisher. The cathedral spire is one V-fold; the market canopies are a single layer glued at both ends. 38 pieces a copy.
See the commissionPaper engineers · Norwich
Pages that stand up.
Mountain & Valley designs the folds, cuts and pull-tabs inside pop-up books. Two paper engineers, working for publishers, museums and anyone with a story that should open.
02 · Picture book
The Owl Who Counted
A winter story for readers aged three to six. Pull the tab and the owl turns its head to count the stars; five layers make the wood.
See the commission03 · Gardening
Grow It Up
A beginners' growing book. Sunflowers rise on a floating layer and the bean canes climb as the page opens. Printed on 350 gsm board.
See the commission04 · Opera learning
A theatre in an envelope
A toy theatre posted to 2,400 primary classrooms. Five die-cut pieces slot together with no glue; the ship sails between two rows of waves.
See the commission05 · Maritime museum
The Tide Wheel
A harbour spread with a volvelle on the back: turn the wheel to the date and read the tide. Sold in the museum shop since 2024.
See the commissionWhat we do
We work out how your story folds.
An illustrator draws the owl. We decide how it stands up: where it is cut, where it is glued, how far it can rise before it hits the page above, and how a factory will assemble 20,000 of it by hand.
You get a white dummy you can open, die-lines your printer can cut, and assembly notes for the production line. We stay on the job until the first finished copies arrive.
- 31
- books engineered since 2016
- 3 to 4 wk
- from brief to the first white dummy
- 60,000
- copies in our longest print run
One spread, opened
Two glue lines, one crease.
- Closed. The spire is folded flat between the pages, 3 mm thick.
- Opening. Each half is glued along a line that leaves the spine at 40°. As the page turns, the two lines pull the crease upright.
- Open flat. The crease stands at 90° and the spire reaches 187 mm. No glue on the crease, nothing to break.
- Page
- 180°
- Crease
- 90°
- Height
- 187 mm
Commissions
Five books, five kinds of client.
How a commission runs
From a sketch to a pallet of books.
- 01
Brief
You send the story or the rough. We sketch where things could stand up and quote.
1 week - 02
White dummy
A working model in plain white card, every piece cut and glued by hand.
3 to 4 weeks - 03
Art on the pieces
Your illustrator paints onto our templates; we check every edge and tab.
2 to 6 weeks - 04
Die-lines
Cutting and creasing files, glue maps and assembly notes for the factory.
2 weeks - 05
Proofs
We open the first hand-assembled copies and sign them off with you.
6 to 10 weeks