Paper artist is making waves with pop-up books, also from Iron Maiden

Jean-Paul shows a video. It comes from the Instagram account of Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson. The singer unpacks the book that was made for the 40th anniversary of the British band. The scary mascot Eddie jumps up from the book. This character has played an important role in album covers, on band shirts and during live performances since the 1970s.

“It’s a bit surreal that such a famous singer has your work in his hands,” says Jean-Paul. “That this originated here in Cuijk. And that then goes around the world.”

Making pop-ups started when Jean-Paul and his girlfriend started collecting books like that together. “We discovered there was a world of very complex pop-up books for adults.” That’s where Jean-Paul’s love for paper art began. “I’m quite creative,” he says. “So I started making them myself. Yes, that got quite out of hand.”

Jean-Paul calls himself one paper engineer. “It is a combination of creativity and technology,” he explains. “It’s nice to be working with paper. That you can make things move or unfold. That’s very complicated. You keep puzzling and trying.”

Together with his girlfriend he has a YouTube channel with 140,000 followers about pop-up books. He also creates pop-ups of internet games such as Minecraft, as well as photos that are a hit on social media.

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul is already dreaming about a new pop-up book. “My big dream is to one day make something for Efteling,” he says. “Beautiful pop-ups about the Fairytale Forest.” He takes a map from his desk and unfolds it. This is how Longneck appears. “You see, I’m already fantasizing about it. It may not be a rock band, but it is very nice.”