A paper creativity site
I turn paper into small worlds that move.
With cardstock, scissors, glue, gears and a little patience, I design automata, mechanical sculptures and static models where simple materials become movement, character and surprise.
Every model on paperPino is free to download. Print it, cut the parts, build the mechanism, and watch the paper come to life.
Download. Print. Cut. Fold. Glue. Turn the handle.
And enjoy the magic of making!
From the collection
The Ballerina in the Breathing Tower
Build a free mechanical paper automaton with a rotating ballerina, opening tower, gears and music box. Download the model and illustrated assembly instructions.
The Birthday Flower — Tribute to Peter Markey
Build The Birthday Flower, a free paper automaton inspired by Peter Markey. Removable Interlocking Pins let you assemble, dismantle and store it as a reusable kit.
Fabergé Paper Egg
Build a free printable Fabergé-inspired paper egg with green-and-gold ornament. Download the PDF pattern, cut the pieces and assemble the decorative model.
Christmas Village
Build a miniature Christmas village from paper, with colourful houses and snowy rooftops. Download the model files, print the pieces and assemble a festive display of your own.
EPM – Electro Paper Man
Build EPM – Electro Paper Man, a hand-powered paper robot inspired by the 1960s Electro Man tin toy, with a walking quick-return mechanism and moving arm.
URSUS (1914)
Build a free paper model of URSUS, Trieste’s historic floating crane, with its industrial history, images, video and downloadable template.
MACHINA
Build MACHINA, a free mechanical paper model where gears, levers and tracks guide balls through a theatrical sequence of movements. Download the complete model.
Sand-Powered Mechanical Hammer
Build a free sand-powered paper automaton inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical hammer. Falling sand drives the wheel, cam and hammer mechanism.
Coelum Stellatum Christianum: a Christianized Celestial Globe after Cellarius (1660)
A printable celestial globe based on Julius Schiller’s Christianized constellations and the richly illustrated hemispheres published by Andreas Cellarius in the Harmonia Macrocosmica.
Leonardo’s Anemometer
The model translates one of Leonardo’s compact mechanical observations into a buildable object, closely tied to his broader interest in air, motion and flight.
The MATRICKS — Hako-Style Paper Characters Inspired by The Matrix
Build The MATRICKS, a free set of Hako-style paper characters inspired by The Matrix. Download the printable PDF, cut, fold and glue the blocky figures.
Ignace-Gaston Pardies’ Celestial Globe: a Printable Sky from 1693
A printable 25 cm celestial globe reconstructed from Ignace-Gaston Pardies’ six star charts, first published in 1674 and reissued in 1693 as a gnomonic atlas of the heavens.
WAP – WARNING! Air Pockets
Build WAP – WARNING! Air Pockets, a free paper automaton where gears and cranks send a tiny airplane through an apparently chaotic flight. Download the complete model.
Peace Dove
Build a small paper automaton around a simple, enduring symbol of peace: a white dove carrying a message. Download the model, print the parts and assemble your own moving paper dove.
Cassini’s Terrestrial Globe
Build a free paper model of Giovanni Maria Cassini’s 1790 terrestrial globe, based on engraved gores and eighteenth-century cartography. Download the illustrated PDF with instructions in Italian and English.
The Rolling Reels Circus (2005)
The Rolling Reels Circus is one of my early paper automata: reels roll and move through a simple play of balance and gravity.
Sweet Dreams
A small paper automaton driven by a Geneva stop mechanism: continuous rotation becomes a sequence of intermittent movements, turning a technical device into a quiet little paper scene.
From the Monthly News
1–31 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
#PopUpTober 2026 — 31 days of pop-up prompts
Keith Allen’s annual 31-day pop-up challenge returns, with Chibitronics adding a LightUpPopUpTober track for makers who want to integrate paper circuits and light.
24 October–11 November 2026 · ORIGAMI
World Origami Days 2026 — a tribute to Toshikazu Kawasaki
OrigamiUSA dedicates World Origami Days 2026 to Toshikazu Kawasaki, celebrating his mathematical and artistic contribution to contemporary origami.
24 October–11 November 2026 · ORIGAMI
The Kawasaki Award — folding in the “Kawasaki Mind”
A special World Origami Days initiative invites folders to submit reinterpretations and original works inspired by Toshikazu Kawasaki’s approach to origami.
19–25 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Carte che vivono — fourteen pop-up books in Rome
Guido Bonacci presents fourteen artist books in which cuts, folds and mechanisms turn the page into a three-dimensional and moving space.
17–25 October 2026 · PAPER SCULPTURE
After Paper — waste paper becomes object and surface
At Dutch Design Week, discarded office paper is reworked into sculptural objects and surfaces, exploring paper as a reusable material rather than disposable waste.
16 October 2026 · ARTIST BOOKS
Boundless: The Book as Art — paper engineering enters the gallery
Opening at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, this exhibition treats the book as an art object; works include Shawn Sheehy’s paper-engineered Beyond the 6th Extinction.
11 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Make a Card That Pops — exploring the parallel-fold mechanism
A hands-on workshop at Bell House in Dulwich builds an autumn-themed pop-up from first sketch to finished card, concentrating on the parallel-fold mechanism.
2 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Tunnel Book Art — depth built from cut-paper planes
A workshop explores the tunnel-book form: successive cut-paper planes, spacing and perspective combine to create an image with physical depth.
October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Luceros y Penumbras — the world’s largest pop-up book
Daniel González and paper engineer Matthew Reinhart scale pop-up mechanics to monumental dimensions in a project presented by the Library Foundation of Los Angeles.
2026 · AUTOMATA
Tick Tock Marvels — the playful world of automata
An exhibition devoted to mechanical storytelling brings together playful automata and the ingenious mechanisms that animate them.
16 May–25 October 2026 · AUTOMATA
Making Waves: Amazing Machines — Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in Aberdeen
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre brings its characteristic combination of engineering, humour and hand-built mechanisms to Aberdeen in an exhibition of moving machines.
27 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Pocket Pop-up Cryptids — Shawn Sheehy builds creatures in paper
An online Center for Book Arts workshop with Shawn Sheehy explores compact pop-up structures through cryptids, combining paper engineering with character and narrative.
11 October 2026 · ORIGAMI
The Pod Lamp — modular origami becomes a sculptural light
Paper artist Tejas Uzgare leads a modular-origami workshop in Mumbai in which repeated folded units are assembled into a functional sculptural lamp.
14 October 2026 · PAPER OBJECT
PÉPET — a paper toy built from hundreds of paper layers
Masae Nagao’s palm-size paper toy for TAKEO is built from more than 400 layers of coloured paper; its layered body wobbles and ruffles when handled.
1 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Pop Op — David A. Carter turns optical illusions into pop-ups
David A. Carter uses engineered spreads, sliders and moving structures to translate classic optical illusions into three-dimensional paper experiences.
October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
The Epic Adventures of Shahnameh — eight stories in engineered paper
Hamid Rahmanian’s third Shahnameh pop-up, paper-engineered by Simon Arizpe, stages eight episodes from the Persian epic through elaborate dimensional scenes.
15 October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Pop-Up and Play Spaceship — paper engineering meets space science
Rocket scientist Joalda Morancy and paper engineer Renee Jablow use moving and pop-up structures to turn spacecraft systems into a playable paper environment.
October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
The Mandalorian & Grogu — Matthew Reinhart in five pop-up scenes
Matthew Reinhart translates the Star Wars characters and settings into five dimensional scenes driven by his characteristic pop-up engineering.
October 2026 · PAPER ENGINEERING
Saw: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book — mechanical horror on paper
A new pop-up treatment of Saw uses dimensional scenes and mechanical paper effects to reinterpret the franchise as an engineered book object.
October 2026 · PAPER MODELS
The Wrong Door — Wintercroft’s evolving Halloween papercraft build
Wintercroft’s 2026 Halloween project unfolds through October with downloadable PDF builds, including a large doorway creature with a hand-operated head and moving jaw, plus paper and cardboard decorations.
24 October 2026 · PAPER MODELS
Guardabosques — building three-dimensional paper objects from flat pieces
At Fundación Proa in Buenos Aires, papercraft studio Guardabosques leads a workshop inspired by Thomas Demand, using pre-designed and die-cut card pieces to turn flat surfaces into three-dimensional objects.
2026 · still available · PAPER MODELS
Vega-C — ESA’s official 1:75 paper rocket model
ESA’s printable Vega-C kit reproduces the European launcher at 1:75 scale. The medium-difficulty PDF build includes the three solid-propellant stages, AVUM+ upper stage and payload fairing, reaching 46.6 cm when assembled.
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