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Paper engineering studio

We don't just cut paper.We engineer wonder.

PaperCrease turns flat artwork into dimensional objects — limited-edition pop-up books, premium brand envelopes, and folded specialty-paper structures finished with die-cutting, embossing, and foil stamping. Our craft lives in the tension between paper and geometry, where every fold honours both the material's limits and the magic we promise.

Explore our servicesRequest a sample kit
Stock range
90–900 gsm, incl. duplexed board
Cut tolerance
±0.2 mm registration
Minimum run
150 units, pop-up editions
Foil options
Copper, oxidised black, holographic
Open limited-edition pop-up book with laser die-cut paper architecture lit by warm ember light
The Ember Realm — 5-layer tunnel spreadEdition of 500 · 300 gsm cotton

The material decides first

Paper has an opinion. Good engineering listens to it.

Grain direction sets which way a sheet wants to fold. Caliper sets how tight a crease can be scored before the fibres crack. A 300 gsm cotton rag will hold a sculpted emboss beautifully and fight you on a tight parallel fold; a 170 gsm coated sheet does the reverse.

So we start with the stock, not the render. Every mechanism we ship has been creased, scored, and worked by hand in the exact paper it will be produced in — because the difference between a spread that snaps open and one that sags is usually 40 gsm.

Folded specialty paper forming sharp angular planes lit with warm ember light

Capabilities

Four disciplines, one registration mark.

Pop-Up Engineering

V-folds, parallel folds, pull-tabs, and multi-layer tunnel spreads dummied in 120 gsm mock stock before a single die is cut.

Die-Cutting

Steel rule and rotary dies at ±0.2 mm registration, with laser cutting reserved for filigree finer than 0.6 mm.

Embossing & Debossing

Single-level, multi-level, and sculpted brass dies, hand-registered on cotton and duplexed boards up to 900 gsm.

Foil Stamping

Hot foil in matte copper, oxidised black, and holographic finishes, combo-stamped in register with blind emboss.

Selected work

Objects built to be opened again and again.

Premium brand envelopes with die-cut flaps and foil-stamped seals on a dark surface

Atelier invitation suite

Die-cut scalloped flaps · copper foil seal · 270 gsm colorplan

Hot foil press stamping copper foil into charcoal cotton paper

Combination foil & emboss plate

Two-hit register · matte copper on oxidised black

Steel rule die-cutting plate with cut paper shapes on a press bed

Steel rule tooling, hang-tag series

8-up nested layout · ±0.2 mm registration

How a fold becomes a run

Four stages, and nothing skipped.

  1. 01

    Structural brief

    We map the artwork against the mechanism: how far it opens, how flat it packs, and how many times a reader can work the fold before fatigue sets in.

  2. 02

    White dummy

    A full-size unprinted dummy is built by hand. Fold direction, gutter allowance, and paper grain are settled here — never on press.

  3. 03

    Material trials

    We test three candidate stocks for crease recovery and fibre tear, then confirm foil adhesion and emboss depth on the winning sheet.

  4. 04

    Production & assembly

    Print, die-cut, finish, then hand-glue with reversible PVA. Every unit is opened and closed five times before it is boxed.

Artisan scoring and folding specialty paper on a cutting mat in a dim workshop at dusk

Send us the flat artwork.

We'll tell you what it wants to become — which mechanism suits it, which stock will hold it, and what the finishing will cost at your run length.

See servicesservice@lumoforge.store