Meet the Maker: April Capalungan (APRL)

A Peek into APRL’s Paper Playground

Today’s spotlight is on April Capalungan, a contemporary paper folder and visual storyteller who embraces experimentation and play to create stunning, thought-provoking art. Singled out in 2023 by the Moveable Book Society for her pop-up book, A Tail’s Tale, April’s creative journey continues to evolve.

Meticulous, detailed, and intensely curious, APRL’s bold and surprising work stands apart for its complexity and interactivity. For example, her contribution of a light-up pop-up book called, Knock, to our #LightUpPopUpTober collaboration in October 2024, is absolutely magical!

To see this book in action, visit the Chibitronics LightUpPopUpTober Gallery. (See Day 31: Knock)

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Can you please tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m April Capalungan, a.k.a. APRL, an award-winning emerging paper engineer, illustrator, and designer. My work revolves around exploring the materiality of paper and its potential for interactivity, inspired by science and the arts. With creative grit, I strive to find the playful intersection of geometry, interactivity, lighting design, pop-ups, and paper engineering sculptures.

My journey has been a transformation from aspiring to become a doctor to pursuing a creative life. It was a life-changing eureka moment of self-discovery that helped me uncover my love for storytelling through making. 

I hold a double degree in Medical Technology and Visual Communication, which has shaped my innate curiosity, keen eye for detail, and passion for experimentation in bringing ideas to life.

Beyond this, APRL (without an “I”) reflects how my work goes beyond myself, embracing the collaborative nature of creativity–an open invitation to reshape and reimagine how stories unfold.

*Awarded by the Movable Book Society in 2023, Cleveland, Ohio. Recipient of the Emerging Paper Engineer Prize 2023 A Tail’s Tale: An Interactive Picture Book About Child-Pet Companionship in Enhancing Emotional Literacy for Children Ages 7 to 11 (In English and Filipino translated by Waya Lao). 

How would you describe what you do? What do you most enjoy about it?

I’m a modern-day paper folder and visual storyteller creating pop-ups, paper sculptures, and stop motion animation. Along the way, I’ve worked on illustrations, murals, and design projects.

Everything I create is guided by my innate curiosity and a sense of play. I’ve built an approach called “paper playground” – a space to rediscover childlike wonder by exploring paper’s materiality through cutting, folding, collage, and even tearing.

The joy of my practice lies in the constant process of discovery, where I emphasize the freedom of paper’s materiality to reconstruct and/or deconstruct itself with a sense of play on different planes to tell a story–bridging my love of science and art.  

What I enjoy the most is seeing the audience interact with the material’s tactile charm. They become part of the story too. 

What do you most enjoy making?

Any ideas that invite an open exploration of paper as a medium and integrating geometry, interactivity, lighting, and even illustration or printmaking to tell a story. 

As an emerging paper engineer and artist, I’m embracing the endless possibilities of what this pursuit of a creative life might lead to. As part of my creative process, I try to find time making daily improv paper fold series called “Origami Notes.”

What do you want people to know about your creative process?

Always beginning with thinking and tinkering. My creative process consists of play and experimentation in transforming the idea by reconstruction and/or deconstruction in preserving the subject’s core essence with a degree of abstraction.

While it would always be possible to make a more ‘complex’ paper mechanism, I always ask, “Why?” This questions reminds me to trust the poetic simplicity of paper’s materiality.

I’m more interested in finding ways to create an intentional balance between forms, colors, paper engineering, and open-ended interactions of the audience. Through the process, I discover how these collective elements and active participation of the audience morph the narration of the story as it unfolds.

What inspires you? 

My inspirations include the Bauhaus Movement, Japanese graphic design, and the surreal paintings of René Magritte. I’m fascinated by the intersection of natural pattern design in science and the geometric beauty found in mathematics.

Most importantly, I’m inspired by children’s imaginative way of seeing the world. It reminds me of my own childhood experiences and the importance of creative expression. My work is rooted in this reflection—thinking about what I needed as a child. I want to find ways to build a space to creatively express oneself, and a reminder to just simply play.

How do you take creative breaks?

Learning new things beyond my make-shift studio called Studio Laro. I’m still learning how to practice mindful rest. If you have any suggestions, please let me know! 

So far, I like making a warm cup of tea at any time of the day. 

I have a small collection of pop-up books and children’s picture books. It’s slowly growing but in the meantime, I’m making space to spend time alone in libraries and bookstores looking through whatever book that interests me.

I like catching up with friends over long drives, new food, or random afternoon walks – just basking in the warmth of the sun (of course wearing sunscreen). And on every weekend, going for quick drive-thru breaks with my napping intern named Antoinette.

How are you using light (or Chibitronics) in your creations?

My main medium is paper as well as playing with different approaches in transforming its dimensionality. I create shape shifting illusions formed through natural and orchestrated lighting.

It’s been fun learning how circuit sketching works using Chibitronics LEDs in creating my entry for #LightUpPopUpTober2024 book entitled “Knock”. 

The choice of sensor or switch design in every page needed to compliment the paper engineered structures in telling the story. I took time to play around how to approach each spread. A Chibitronics tutorial came in handy in exploring this. 

During my prototyping process, the Chibitronics conductive fabric tape became a more ideal material for mapping out circuits, especially anticipating paper folds or interconnected circuits. 

Apart from creating paper electronics, light plays a key role in many of my works, including “Wonderwall” (2024), an interactive wall lighting.

I’m currently working on another lighting design to be released in March 2025, which continues my exploration of interplay between light, geometry, and paper.

What would you like readers to know about your recent book art creation, Knock?

“Knock” is a three-spread, fully handmade light-up book art piece. It combines hand-cut paper collage, strokes of pencil lines, Chibitronics LEDs, and paper engineering. Each spread features a unique switch or sensor design, carefully integrated into the narrative.

[To see this book in action, visit the Chibitronics LightUpPopUpTober Gallery.]

My chosen prompt for #LightUpPopUpTober 2024 was “Knock.” I love playing with open ended stories and finding a balance between clues and curiosity.

I could’ve gone with the idea from my own (self-acclaimed clever) knock knock jokes. But then, I thought about the reader’s perspective of opening a door-like book. A simple reflection of one’s anticipation of what’s on the other side of the door and where it might lead.

An excerpt from Knock:
“Where to?” a question that keeps knocking—one I’ll always ponder.

What challenges and joys have you encountered during your creative (and/or professional) journey?

As an emerging paper engineer and artist, I find joy in the challenges that invite me to go beyond what I know, and embrace what I have yet to know. Along the way in the pursuit of a creative life, I’ve been blessed to cross paths with the supportive people who share genuine care and respect in the craft that we practice.

I’ve recently facilitated a paper engineering / pop-up workshop empowering children’s creative self-expression through art called “Power Pop!” to Grade 1 students.

I find it amazing to witness the playful observation of a child in how they discover what they can freely create from the material, shapes, forms, and colors.

Where can people learn more about you and your work?

See more paper engineering, illustration, and design on my portfolio (www.aprl.co).