Hi! My name's Rich. I've been making pop up cards since 1993. My biggest influence is from Masahiro Chatani. I learned paper architecture from many of his books. He is truly gifted. Almost all of my pop up cards were given away so I have very few of my past works to show. Over the years, I've made cards for family, friends, and even companies I've interviewed for. I am an engineer by trade so I am intrigued by the mechanics of pop up cards. Therefore, I try to create cards that have interesting mechanics, but are easy to assemble. I try, but it's not always the case.
I started a youtube channel (reallyrich92) back in 2007 to show some of my pop up cards to my friends and family. I didn’t realize that so many people would actually watch my videos. Because of all the positive feedback I received from viewers, I decided to start this blog. I also created a new youtube channel, creativepopupcards, which is a more intuitive name than my previous channel. I have recreated some of my old designs, but not all of them. I apologize to the viewers who are disappointed that I don’t have tutorials on all of my cards, but I just have so many new ideas in my head that I would like to create.
I designed all of the cards you see on my website. You may have seen some of my work copied elsewhere. There are many manufacturers that are illegally producing some of my work. The terms of use for my designs are for personal use only, so if you see it being sold, then it's illegally being made.
So, how do I design my pop up cards? When I first started, I drew my designs out on graph paper and made many cards through trial and error. Sometimes I would use a copy machine to shrink or enlarge shapes. These days, since I'm an engineer, I actually use a 3D computer assisted design (CAD) tool to create my cards. This allows me to make a lot of tweaks to my designs, without wasting any paper. The software I use costs several thousand dollars and is used to design jet engines, and is probably overkill for pop up cards, but it gives me a lot of design flexibility. Thanks for visiting, and I hope you enjoy making these cards!