Roald Dahl Book Nooks? Paper Engine’s Hayley Symonds on why Matilda is the first to get this treatment…

Hayley Symonds! I’m very excited to have you join me. Tell me, what is your role at Paper Engine?
For the last five years, I’ve generally worked on the publishing side of the business… I’m the Sales and Publishing director at Paper Engine and HHUK, – the publishing side of the business. Our latest line is a clear crossover between the two arms so I’ve been overseeing the management and design for our latest project alongside our paper engineers.

Perfect answer. And obviously we’ve interviewed people at Paper Engine before so I’ll link to one of those. For those not in the know, what is it that Paper Engine does?
Paper Engine is a team of three in-house paper engineers. We started off in the publishing industry 30 years ago, doing the design and manufacture for all of the UK book publishers – which we still do. So we support and help with the manufacture of any kind of pop-up, moving or novelty books… The Paper Engine team came about to give more design support outside the book industry.

What kind of thing?
Marketing materials, for example. We work with lots of different brands to create paper-engineered products. Then, back in 2020, we launched Build Your Own, which is our toy brand. And they’re our first in-house branded products… All the cardboard toys that you’ve seen and enjoyed over the last few years, Deej!

Absolutely right! Your products are amazing! That’s why I made a beeline for your stand at London Book Fair… And found you’ve gone in what I think is a completely new direction for Book Nooks! If people don’t know what a Book Nook is, how do you explain them?
Well! Book Nooks are decorative scenes that people create and build within the space of what appears – from the outside – to be a book! You then house it within your bookcase. That way, when anyone looks at your bookcase, they automatically see the beautiful world of a story that you’ve read, loved and crafted into a nook.

Blimey! I can tell you’ve spent some time in sales; that was effortlessly lovely. Ha! The thing is that Book Nooks have been a thing for a few years now in different variations. Mainly, though, people create their own Book Nooks at home. They’re like a craft project for their own bookcases. They’ve been very popular on social media; people creating their own kind of mini worlds inside these books. But there aren’t actually any in the industry that we’ve seen that are branded or licensed.

Ah! I was going to say that; that I’ve not seen anything like this that licensed. So to your knowledge, this is the first?
Yes, we think so… We think this is the first time we could take very well-known book brands and use the artwork to build a Book Nook product and have something commercial available. So what we wanted to create was a beautiful book-nook-making experience, one that lets you view a hugely popular story in one glance. And to some degree, that’s all about finding the right book.

Of which, you’ve found what I think is a delicious licensing partner… Tell us how it came about – and who it is, actually! Quite important! Sorry; it’s my first interview! Ha!
Ha! We’re partnering with The Roald Dahl Story Company. They approached us to discuss ideas having seen some of our Build Your Own toy products and other licensed things we’ve already worked on… Aardman for Wallace and Gromit, for example, and Penguin Random House for the Snowman with our Christmas Eve box. So yes – when The Roald Dahl Story Company wanted to do something, we had a brainstorm with them. We wondered what would make a perfect product to sit within books, cardboard, kits and toys. And we felt Book Nooks would be our sweet spot.

And on which books are you initially focussing, Hayley?
We’re starting with Matilda! We think that’s perfect because, from a story base, Matilda is all about using books… Using a library as an escape, using books as a source of intelligence, of gaining new friends, of building a world. Particularly for anyone that’s beginning to read… And most people read Matilda as their first proper book, which is why it holds a sense of nostalgia for people. People have very strong feelings towards that title.

And once you all said, “Start with Matilda!”, how did the design process begin?
Our Product Designer, Melly Morris, worked very closely with the Roald Dahl team to immerse herself in that brand. That included finding out what artwork was available because Quentin Blake’s artwork is so inherent to the look and feel of Matilda and other Roald Dahl stories. We had to look at that within the space of what we can create out of paper and boards and building the world around it…

We also had to find the outside design of the Book Nook, of course! We’ve come up with a design that looks like a book from the outside and then you start building all the pieces for the inner world. That’s part of the enjoyment – having the intricacy of building and creating, and then you sit the nook within your bookcase when it’s finished. But the limits that Melly was working within helped shape the creativity… The size boundaries of your average bookcase, for example; having enough light within there to be able to actually view the product… A lot of intricacies.

Well, I do hope your pass my congratulations onto Melly because I think she’s absolutely nailed it. It’s a beautiful product; so many lovely details.
I will! And thank you. Matilda is such a beloved character, so we did want to give this Book Nook all those little Easter eggs… There’s a newt within the jug, the different books are sat on her bookcase behind her, her big armchair is there… All of those little pieces are within the build of the product, which – for anyone that loves Matilda and buys this – will have that kind of recognition throughout their build. And that’s what we wanted to create. This world, you know?

I absolutely do know! And I could tell by the reaction of the people that saw it at London Book Fair that there were moments of recognition and nostalgia. In terms of paper engineering, what was the biggest challenge, do you think?
Funnily enough, one of the biggest challenges was to make it look like a book! Because the idea is that a Book Nook is like a hidden world within your bookcase… So we needed to make sure the outer casing wasn’t just lots of wasted space because a retailer doesn’t want that, and we don’t want that for shipping! So one of the difficulties was in getting the product sturdy enough to stand and sit among books but still fold flat and pop up to put the pieces inside.

And when is this out, Hayley? And what about the rest of the range?
So we’re, so we’re starting with Matilda… That comes out in September and retails for £24.99…

£24.99? I’m just going to interrupt and say I think that’s a very keen price for such a very beautiful product!
Thank you! From there, we’re following on with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which will be coming a few months after. And we’ve got the BFG signed up as our third title in the Book Nook series. Just saying it is amazing!

We’re very lucky that we’ve got a brand like the Roald Dahl Story Company that have a wealth of fantastic titles that are so well loved. We’re really excited for this range because a lot of the craft Book Nooks are made out of wood. Ours are made out of cardboard in slot-together pieces. It’s much more sustainable, and more immediate for a younger age group to create and build at home.

That’s exactly right. It’s a very accessible and beautiful product… Plus it’s got a great license. Let me ask you this: if it’s going to be known that you’re looking to do other Book Nooks, who would be the dream person to knock on your door and say, “We too would like to do Book Nooks!”?
There’s a wealth of great illustrators and great books out there. Obviously there’re many classics which are already out of copyright. So, you know, the license wouldn’t be such an issue on that side if publishers just need the paper engineering. But if I was going to take a passion project for our team – and particularly Melly, knowing the kind of storylines that she’s most passionate about… It would always be Harry Potter.

Great answer!
And on the surface, the market for this is children that are building their very first bookcase, so ultimately they’ll want to buy a Matilda Book Nook so they can have it within their bookcase and understand the importance of – and grow that love for – books. But anyone up to the age of a hundred plus who enjoys books and read Matilda or Harry Potter or whatever to their children or grandchildren can enjoy this idea… So it’s about picking those kind of titles. That’s what we would want to do as a Book Nook.

Brilliant. How did you come to end up at Paper Engine, Hayley?
I worked at Penguin for 10 years. I worked in the sales team at Penguin Random House, and then moved over to the Paper Engine team in 2020. I was looking for a company that was smaller; one in which I’d be able to have a bit more creative input and a team that, you know, really inspired me – and they do! Working in that office and seeing the things they can come up with is amazing. The sky’s the limit for what you can do with paper and board…

Then, from my side – as a salesperson – I’ve obviously got a very clear commercial brief of what I want to do and I can see how it’s gonna work in the market and then kind of giving that to the team and letting them run with it… But every time I’m surprised and pleasantly excited by what they come back with. It’s a great place to be.

Brilliant. Well, let me sign off by saying thank you for joining me! What a pleasure to chat about this. It’s a great product; gorgeous.