Amongst Beregszaszi’s work under his business moniker Popupology he has produced kinetic surfaces and concertina sculptures from nothing more than a sheet of paper. 

“I fell into paper engineering by accident when I made a New Year’s card of me with my arms waving,” he says. In his case, the first paper cut was the deepest and he was hooked on making paper sculptures. Unlike traditional pop-ups, Beregszaszi limits himself to what can be produced from a single sheet using nothing but cuts and folds, which he calls “origamic architecture”.

What did the job entail?

For the exhibition he produced a limited-edition 200-run poster, which for the first time incorporated printing in addition to paper cutting and folding. Printing was handled by Park Communications, who also produced the brochure for the Kinetica show. Offcuts and makeready waste were turned into pop-up cards and sold in aid of homelessness charity Shelter. 

How was it produced?

Beregszaszi visited Park Communications to get an insight into the print process and used crop marks and control strips as his inspiration for the graphics. Park printed the posters on one of its eight-colour B1 Heidelberg Speedmasters. The job was printed onto an uncoated matt stock, Fedrigoni Freelife vellum white. 

The sheets were then laser cut by Edmonton-based finishing specialist PaperShapers. 

The posters are shipped flat and then folded onsite to create the sculptural effect.

What challenges were overcome?

To get the effect of smooth solid specials using only CMYK, Park deployed its new XD screening, a hybrid screen that automatically mixes the best of AM and FM depending on whether it is for an image or a tint. Working with PaperShapers, Beregszaszi has also developed ways of working with the laser cutter to produce easy-to-fold sheets with clean creases; and also to minimise any scorching from the laser. 

What was the feedback?

“The XD screening produced an incredible result,” said Beregszaszi. “You get screen print-like bright colours, but using litho, even when printing on a matt uncoated paper, which is needed to ensure good laser cutting.” He also added it was important that the job had been locally produced in London, and that Park shared his environmental ethos and enabled the markeready waste to be turned into cards for Shelter.