Meet the Templar Team!

A moment in the spotlight with Designer and Paper Engineer Andy Mansfield

Who are you?

Andy Mansfield. I live a couple of miles south of Dorking with my wife Debs, and three year old son Rufus.

How long have you been at Templar?

I think it’s coming up for 11 years now.

What’s your job?

Designer and paper engineer.

Did you work at another publisher’s previously or come straight to Templar?

Before Templar I worked for Ron van der Meer, where I honed my paper engineering skills over five years. Ron was a bit of a pioneer of the modern pop-up book, developing hugely complex pop-up books aimed at adults, like the Art pack and the Architecture pack. It was a great place to learn the tricks of the trade.

The Sydney Opera House from The Architecture Pack

What are the best parts of your job?

Coming up with an extravagant pop-up that looks like it shouldn’t fit in the page – but of course it does. Plus you can’t beat the feeling of seeing a finished copy of a book you’ve been toiling over for months.

What are the worst parts of your job?

Having to constantly reign in the amount of paper and glue points we can use in order to save money in the manufacturing process. The once extravagant pop-up ends up being just a flap!

Why is your job is the best one to have in publishing?

Who else can spend half a week trying to get a pop-up bed of nails to work. I don’t think cutting up little pieces of paper and just having fun with them can be beaten in the best job stakes.

Who makes the best cup of tea in the office

I don’t drink tea, so I can’t answer this one. I know I probably make the worst though.

Scummy tea...

What are your favourite books (both Templar and non Templar)?

I love Bob – man on the moon. It’s great to read it (again and again and again) with my son, who loves searching out the aliens. Jan Pienkowski’s Haunted House is also a favourite, as it was my first pop-up book.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment I’m working on several non-fiction novelty titles including the Junior Pop-up Atlas, and How we make stuff (the next in the ‘How the World Works’ series). I’m just about to start working on the pop-ups for the next classic sounds book – Cinderella, which should be fun.

Which projects have you been most proud of?

I’m really pleased with Monstrous Book of Monsters, a bit of a gross-out look at the world of monsters, due out this September. Everything came together really well, and we’ve ended up with a great product that looks fantastic. During my years at Templar I’ve been very lucky to have worked on a variety of really exciting titles, but I’m probably most proud of the Marvel True believers pop-ups I worked on a few years back. I pretty much had a free reign to do what I wanted with Marvel’s back catalogue of classic comic artwork, and I think they worked out really well.

Quickfire Questions ...

Which Monster Mate are you most like? Nosey Norman...
Bookshop or library Bookshop
Physical or digital Both have their own place, but probably physical
Mac or PC Mac
Coffee or tea I don’t drink either
Biscuit or cake Cake
Heatwave or snowstorm Snowstorm.