Join William the hippo and friends in an interactive adventure puzzle book. Help them solve the mystery and save the exhibition!

William the hippo and his friends live on 5th Avenue, New York, inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At night, when the museum is closed and all the visitors have gone home, their adventures begin. A special exhibition is about to open, and everyone is excited to see the amazing exhibits from all over the world. However, the boxes holding the exhibits are locked with puzzles that need to be solved. The curators are struggling to figure them out - it's up to you to help William and his friends travel through the museum, solve the puzzles and save the exhibition!

Join the course here.

Learn fundamental techniques to create your own pop-up books that come to life with light, from the initial concept to the finished 3D model.

Pop-up books, for many people, evoke a sense of childhood nostalgia and wonder. Paper engineer Helen Friel hopes to inspire those feelings in her readers, but with a twist! By using light, she brings each spread to life and transforms 3D pages into something even more special. Helen has published books including Midnight Monsters and Hoakes Island, and worked with clients like TIME, Vogue, Vanity Fair, Sky, and The Savoy Hotel.

In this online course, she teaches you the fundamentals of building your own interactive light-up pop-up book. Craft three spreads, each of a different city scene, and learn how to use light to bring a whole new dimension to your art.

‘How the Light Gets In’ 

Cover and spot illustrations for Poets & Writers Magazine.

Highly Commended in the World Illustration Awards 2019

By Helen Friel & Ian Friel

Henry Hoakes has gone missing and Hoakes Island Amusement Park is in grave danger. This notebook, a hastily assembled collection of diary entries, notes, puzzles and clues, is the only key to find out what’s happened to Henry and stop the dastardly developers who want to knock down the park.

 Solve the puzzles and discover keys and clues as you travel around the island on a quest to rescue Rita the anteater, Granville the gorilla and the rest of the talking animals who live there. It's a race against time that only a puzzle master can win!

This ingenious and immersive puzzle adventure comes with a fold-out map of Hoakes Island and a special red lens to discover secret messages and clues. Can you solve the mystery and save Hoakes Island? We’re counting on you!

Tech and nature come together in this magazine cover for a global business consulting organisation.

Cover and images to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

Paper megaphone, birds and photography for the RSA Journal.

In the second issue of 2023, the RSA Journal explores the increasing interest in democratic renewal that presents an opportunity to reimagine and strengthen democracy.

As part of their relaunch Fanta invited me to create a world based on their new bolder, fruitier and more vibrant Fanta logo.

Photography by Jasper Fry

Switch off the lights, turn on your flashlight and come on a wonderful shadow adventure with Midnight Creatures! This book contains five pop-up scenes full of creatures to find, from the fork-marked lemur in the jungle to the giant squid at the bottom of the ocean. Use your flashlight to help you spot the hidden creatures when they appear as shadows on your wall.

Art Direction and paper engineering for Cavetown’s Home music video. A pop-up book shot in camera, in a single take.

Directed & Produced by Taha Khan - http://twitter.com/KhanStopMe and Sammy Paul - http://twitter.com/ICOEPR

Art Director & Paper Engineer - Helen Friel - http://helenfriel.com/

Concept by Taha Khan

Director of Photography - Ciaran O’Brien - http://instagram.com/ciaranobriendop/

Gaffer - Marc Spicer

1st Assistant Camera - Matt Choules - http://mattchoules.co.uk

2nd Assistant Camera & Colourist - Rachael Hutchings - http://twitter.com/HutchRachael

Editor - Stefan Abingdon - http://twitter.com/stefanabingdon

Lighting Assistants - Molly Williams - https://twitter.com/mollyacejay and Zannah Perrins - https://twitter.com/zannah_perrins

Production Assistants - Molly Williams and Marco Lau - https://www.instagram.com/ceramictoilet/

Executive Producers Robin Skinner and Zack Zarrillo

Special Thanks - Jaclyn O’Connell, Harriet Davis, YouTube Space London

Out now! A new puzzle adventure!

Odysseus has been away from home for many years, and he is finally making his way back to his family on the island of Ithaca.

It will be a dangerous journey and on the way, he'll face treacherous challenges of all kinds. If you're feeling brave enough, step aboard his ship and help him on his way!

By Helen Friel and Ian Friel

Illustrated by Jesús Sotés

Turn off the lights, get your flashlight, and come on a wonderful shadow adventure with Midnight Monsters! This follow-up book to the immensely popular Midnight Creatures takes you on a journey through five more beautifully crafted pop-up scenes full of hidden monsters to find, from the werewolf in the woods to the krampus in the castle. Use your flashlight to help you spot the monsters when they appear as shadows on your wall. Out now!

Ideas gumball machine and book vending machine for a world-leading management consultancy.

Paper engineering for Read-Only Memory’s SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History.

SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History presents six of the most iconic SEGA Taiken ‘body sensation’ videogame cabinets – Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, Thunder Blade and Power Drift – in an innovative form: as pop-up paper sculptures.

Accompanying this 3D showcase is a written history from Guardian games writer and best-selling novelist, Keith Stuart, punctuated by specially restored production artwork and beautifully reproduced in-game screens. The book features contributions from arcade game innovator Yu Suzuki, who offers first-hand insight into the development of these groundbreaking games and the birth of the Taiken cabinet phenomenon.

SEGA Arcade: Pop-Up History is a unique book object, a delight for SEGA fans and a love letter to the once-vibrant arcade game scene of the 1980s.

Available HERE

Paper set design and photography for Ad Age - “How Sustainability in Fashion Went From the Margins to the Mainstream”

Predictions is a series of images exploring the art of hepatomancy - predicting the future by studying animal entrails - first practiced by the Babylonians over 4000 years ago. A personal project in collaboration with photographer Chris Turner.

Paper people for SKY National Inclusion week. Video and images used across the SKY campus and social media.

Known the world over for its theatrical Art Deco setting and innovative drinks, The Beaufort Bar has launched a spectacular new cocktail menu that pushes the boundaries of cocktail making, imagination and design.

Commissioned by Head Barman Chris Moore the menu is a collaboration between paper engineer Helen Friel and illustrator Joe Wilson.

Images for Brussels Airlines b.Inspired Magazine. The Great American Rail Trail is set to cross the entire belly of America, from Washington DC to Washington State. Almost 6000km across 12 states.

Lush asked me to create an image to capture the feeling of using their Dragon’s Egg bath bomb.

Simply pop-out, fold and stick together each of the ten super simple, super stylish 3D models, then populate your desk with them or admire on your mantelpiece. From piranhas to piñatas, this cool and quirky collection of projects makes a gorgeous gift for an arty friend.

You can also create amazing paper sets to make your models feel at home.

Art direction and paper engineering for Tesco Mobile papercraft adverts.

Director - Ubik / Art Director & Paper Engineer - Helen Friel / Animator - Andy Biddle / DP - Toby Howell / Compositor & Colourist - James Littlemore / Producer - Mike Capon / Production Manager - Lew Lewington-Pearce / Production Company - 1stAveMachine London

Shot at Clapham Road Studios

I was invited by Bombay Sapphire to create paper worlds inspired by cocktails, made using Bombay Sapphire Paint.

Free delivery in the Hamptons for Mr Porter. Photography by Victoria Ling.

Paper engineering and illustration for book - Paper Neighbourhoods: 16 Charming No-Stick Paper Neighborhoods to Build

An assembly of 16 intriguing neighborhoods from around the globe. Easily popped out of the pre-perforated pages they can be easily assembled without any scissors, craft knife, glue, or tape.

Created as a test for Rotovision.

Paper buildings and landscapes designed and made for RTE's 2014 television campaign directed by Sylvain Dumais. RTE, is the electricity transmission system operator of France. It is responsible for the operation, maintenance and development of the French high-voltage transmission system, which at approximately 100,000 kilometres (62,000 mi), is Europe's largest. The actor and backgrounds were shot over a week in Montreal with CGI animation added in Paris.

Winner of an Applied Arts Magazine Award

Director + On-Set Art Direction: Sylvain Dumais / Paper Art + Building Art Direction: Helen Friel / Art Department: Pascal Brousseau, Will Vincent, Timothée Labrecque / DP: Simon Duhamel Agency: W&Cie / Havas / Paris Art Director: Guillaume Duprés / Creative Director: Thomas Stern / Production: Hervé Lopez / Lord Of Barbès Line-Producer: Fayçal Haiji

A paper art editorial for Proto Magazine on the scarcity of some drugs in the American healthcare system.

Photography by Chris Turner.

Revolution is the winner of a PDN Photo Annual Award as well as an official selection for the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival, Melbourne International Animation Festival, New Zealand International Animation Festival and the London International Animation Festival.

Personal project.

Photography by Mitch Payne.

A selection of twelve images for Time Magazine’s ‘Your Digital Life: The Ultimate User’s Guide’. Analogue apps as openers for the guide’s chapters. 

Photography by Jasper Fry

An architectural model for UCL Bartlett’s new campus at Here East.

Photography by Richard Stonehouse.

Images for Kiehl’s Lip Balm #1. In 1988 Kiehl’s sent it’s lip balm with Everest 88 - a climbing team that successfully scaled Everest.

Photography by Jasper Fry

Cover designs for Computer Arts Love Print / Love Digital Issue. Nominated for cover of the year in the Digital Magazine Awards.

Photography by Toby Summerskill

Paper sets for Vanity Fair UK.

Photography by Chris Turner.

3D paper models of Oliver Byrne’s version of Euclid’s Elements. Designed for Moo as part of their Luxe Business Cards Project. Proceeds from the sale of the cards go to Battersea Dogs Home.

'An Englishman, even if he is alone forms an orderly queue of one.'

  - George  Mikes

A project exploring the peculiarities of British life - taking  idioms,  queues and waiting rooms to their logical and often surreal conclusions. How long is a piece of string? Can you have your cake and eat it? What's wrong with Coventry?

Annual Report for Ted Baker.

Photography by I Heart Studios.

An open brief to create an image for Vanity Fair’s Christmas issue.

A short story by Edgar Allan Poe, The Imp of the Perverse discusses the voice inside all of us that makes us to do things we know we shouldn’t do. Each page is perforated in a grid system with sections of the text missing. Readers must follow the simple instructions to tear and fold specific sections to reveal the missing text. Books are usually precious objects and the destruction is engineered to give the reader conflicting feelings, do they keep the book in it’s perfect untorn form? Or give in and enjoy tearing it apart?