PaperSpecs Presents: Interactive 'From Forest to Forest' Pop-Up Book

Considering how integral paper is to our daily lives, it’s amazing just how little many of us know about where it comes from and how it’s made. Tapping the talents of one of the most exciting paper engineers around, Sappi created “From Forest to Forest,” an astonishingly ambitious pop-up book that’s equal parts beautiful and educational.

Designed by Minneapolis based studio 10 Thousand Design, constructed by Structural Graphics, and engineered by Simon Arizpe (who brought us the interactive piece “The Wild” among other wonders), the book is filled to bursting with flora and fauna, buildings and machinery, that all spring from its pages in surprising ways.

As a company that relies heavily on renewable natural resources, sustainability is not merely a trend, but at the core of this mill’s being.

Made entirely from Sappi’s Spectro, this SFI-certified volume is lushly illustrated with art by Alex Pearson depicting the lifespan of a sheet of this paperboard from its origins in the forests on through the paper-making process, right up to the various uses to which it’s put in the marketplace.

From the vivid shades of the leaves to the Blue of the skies and various hues of the packaging examples shown, this volume is awash in vibrant colors. But what really grabs the attention and won’t let go are the pop-up elements.

With the turn of a page entire forests rise, animals give way to a paper-making machine, printing presses, and ultimately return and repeat the process again in a forest setting.

From the importance of forests as habitat for animals to active forest management practices, facts and processes are explained in colorful and interactive ways.

Movable flaps share a myriad of related facts and grant us sneak peeks inside everything from rabbit dens to the inner-workings of a massive paper-making machine.

Not satisfied with merely creating breathtaking pop-ups, the designers rounded out the look and feel of this volume with everything from fluorescent and Silver inks to Gloss and Dull Varnishes, Soft Touch and Textured Matte Coatings, as well as sculptured and single-level embossings, hot foil stamping, and even a scratch-off coating for a lottery ticket – demonstrating one of the uses of the paperboard.

From Forest to Forest is an inspiring example of print being used to add weight, interactivity and texture to the telling of a story that we all should know by heart, in a way that celebrates the work and thought that goes into the creation of the paper on which we all rely.