Step Into a Pop-Up Book: 11 Furnishings, Rooms & Houses That Fold Up Flat

Pop-Up Pavilion in Milan by Daniel Gonzalez

A courtyard in Milan became the setting for an unexpected fantasy as artist Daniel Gonzalez installed a pop-up cardboard environment made with tape, zip ties, wood, glue, nylon wires and electric engines that help all the pop-up parts move. The artist describes it as “an architectural model gone crazy – a surreal monument breaking into the urban context.”

Pop-Up Portfolio Mobile Furniture

What looks like a standard artist portfolio when flat unfolds to reveal pop-up stools, bookcases, chairs and other furniture, which unfold in just the same manner as objects in a pop-up book. Japanese designer Mariko Tsujimoto gave them a bit of a childish appearance by making them out of colorful plastics, but they could look decidedly more grown-up and usable in other materials.

Pop Up Store by Carla Fernandez

A collaboration between Mexican designer Carla Fernandez and craftsperson Pedro Reyes, the ‘Pop-Up Store’ “blends the function of a pop-up store with the features of a pop-up book; elements such as tunnels, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs and pull-downs.”

Pop-Up Cardboard Office

There’s something really satisfying about watching this cardboard pop-up office fold and unfold, revealing a three-dimensional desk inside. Designed by Liddy Scheffknecht and Armin B. Wagner, the structure is held together with tape, and strong enough to actually use.

Pop-Up Cardboard Playhouse by Liya Mairson

This lightweight cardboard flat-pack item unfolds into a cute children’s playhouse, full of panels that fold down into various miniature domestic elements like kitchen stoves, cupboards and tiny doors. Because it’s made for kids, it sort of feels like a halfway point between the miniatures we see in actual pop-up books and real adult furniture.

‘World’s Largest Pop-Up Book’ by Kees Moerbeek for Pearle Opticians

Artist Kees Moerbeek created the ‘world’s largest pop-up book’ for Pearle Opticiens in Belgium. It measured 13’ 1” by 9’ 10” when closed. Guinness Book of World Records officially recognized it as the largest pop-up book in 2010.