About Us

3D Paper Graphics - An Interactive Timeline

Getting to know a company and their products is a crucial part of any business relationship, especially when the products are unique and complex.

To help break the ice, we've created a one-of-a-kind interactive timeline to share our story and our passion for art and design, paper engineering and all things creative.

It's this passion that drives us to help make your marketing more successful.

Click on the icons below to learn more about our founding, the history of our Graphics and Greetings brands, and see our product development throughout the years. We hope you find the ride as interesting and rewarding as we have.

The 1980's - A Love Of Paper Engineering

3D Paper Graphics is led by Chris Crowell, a 40-plus year veteran and innovator in the 3-Dimensional industry.

Always fascinated with pop-up books and paper engineering, Chris was intrigued by the positive responses 3D designs produced. In 1976, he opened the doors of Structural Graphics in Essex, CT. During the 80's he built it into the largest paper engineering company in the industry by introducing pop-ups into almost every form of print advertising including direct mail, POP displays, and magazine inserts.

An industry pioneer, Chris was first to open 3 hand assembly plants for 3D cards and first to use a pop-up insert in a national magazine ad for Yves St. Laurent in 1984.

2005 - Harrah’s Las Vegas Stage Cards

First rolling out in the mid 2000's, 3D produced a series of 15 Stage Cards for Harrah’s Las Vegas Casino & Hotel.

We designed these extravagant cards and 3D mailers to promote evening galas, gaming tournaments and special events for the venue. Featuring more than just traditional pop-ups, custom engineering included moving slot machines, detachable paper folding fans, and interactive games where players could causally lift a pair of cards to peak at their poker hand.

The Harrah's collection is a proud milestone in 3D Paper Graphics history and a prime example of paper engineering at it's finest.

2007 - Buzzwater Case Topper Display

You don't have to be Einstein to understand why these case toppers were a brilliant idea. Back in 2007, 3D produced over one million of them to promote the energy drink.

Buzzwater was one of 3D's first major POP display projects. The engineering, similar to the design of the Stage Card, was created to allow the displays to be attached to the tops of cases and locked open. As with all of 3D's products, shipping and storing flat until the time of use provided additional cost savings.

The colorful and attention-getting graphics combined with a unique display platform made the Buzzwater case toppers a big success.

2008 - 3D Paper Greetings

Since patenting the Globes in 2006, 3D has received a high volume of orders every year during the holiday season.

In 2008, 3D Paper Greetings was launched to brand our holiday, occasion and event invitation business. Based on a strong ecommerce platform, the website includes Standard Holiday Cards that can be easily purchased online and personalized with logos, messages, images and greetings.

Custom Greetings are also availble for the holidays as well as for trade show invitations, event and gala invitations, fundraising efforts, new product announcements and featuring groundbreakings or new construction.

2009 - StandOuts

StandOuts feature the same interlocking base design as our Globes and also have three separate stages for artwork.

The primary difference is that the StandOut uses no plastic in it's construction. Available in several different sizes and shapes, this is another one of 3D's unique flagship products that has lasted through the years.

StandOuts also have the distinction of being the second product introduced into our standard 3D Paper Greetings holiday collection.

With the Globes, they also share similar Front Oval and Hang Tag options.

2010 - Lucky Jumpers

There are many ways to make an impact with dimensional products.

We developed the Lucky Jumpers in 2010 to be a promotional tool with their own unique flair, and first used them for our own 3D mailer with a casino theme.

Powered by small internal rubber bands, the cubes inside take shape on their own when the folder is opened. They are essentially mini versions of the Polygons, Cubes and Pyramids we've offered for years.

The cubes themselves, often called dice, have also been used with a variety of our other dimensional products to add an extra interactive element.

2012 - Ad Club of CT Award

3D was rewarded in 2012 with an Advertising Club of Connecticut bronze award for our work on a Malibu Rum display.

The Globe Floor Display was engineered to stand tall among boxes in a POP environment. Scaled all the way up from the original 3" Globe, the display version is 24" in diameter and the complete setup stands at about 6 feet high.

The award was given in the Promotional Marketing - 3D Promotional Concepts category and is our first Ad Club of CT award. 3D Partnered with the creative agency InnerWorkings on this project.

2015 - SentAFolds

First introduced as a holiday card in 2014, our latest custom SentAFolds offer an engineering achievement you'll appriecate.

In 2015 they were completely redesigned! Rather than relying on a single steel die for the card body, outer-frame and floating cutout, the frame and floater can be produced and inserted separately.

This means that the hanging components can be custom laser cut to any shape desirable. It also means the cards cost less and are available at a lower minimum quantity. It's this type of refinement we strive for here at 3D to benefit our customers.

2000 - 3D Paper Graphics

Founded in 2000 upon Chris Crowell's extensive design and paper engineering patents, 3D produces high quality dimensional mailers, invitations, and displays for business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketers.

We don't just sell our products - we invent them, design them and produce them to make sure your marketing materials stand out from traditional flat print media. Today, we still continue to engineer and patent new and exciting dimensional paper products.

Our love of art, design and paper, combined with our desire to help businesses of all sizes be more effective and successful in their marketing efforts, is what inspired our tagline: "Where Playing with Paper is Serious Business."

2006 - The "ShowStopper" Globe

One of 3D's earliest patented products, our Globes (originally called "ShowStoppers") continue to be the cornerstone of our dimensional product lineup.

The strength of the Globe lies in it's engineering. Designed to be affordably hand assembled in quantity, a standardized base allows for easy customization and insertion of three interior stages without the need for additional folding or gluing.

Popular during the holidays for the snowglobe-like appearance, Globes come in 3", 4", 6" and 24" diameter sizes, and have also evolved into Bottle, Tree and Dome shapes.

The globes are currently protected under U.S. Patent #7490425

2009 - Dimensional Marketing Ideas Blog

December 1, 2008: 3D's blog is born. DimensionalMarketingIdeas.com was created as a simple WordPress site to post updates about our products and provide dimensional marketing tips.

Over the years, DMI has evolved into a one-stop location for useful dimensional marketing information, new product updates, and a look at what's trending in the art, paper and digital design fields.

The posts are always written by 3D's own staff. We post once per week not just to gain followers, but to share what we love in our industry whether we created it or not.

2010 - Flip Books

In a busy year for product development, the Flip Book was also introduced in 2010.

Less resemblant to the fast-moving flip books used in the world of animation, our 3D Flip Books can be scrolled through at a calm pace by pulling the slider on the right. The pages of the book open from one end to the other while giving the user the ability to stop and browse anywhere in between.

FlipBooks fill a crucial need for those with more content than would normally fit in a dimensional card. A fantastic way to present information in bulk, there's up to 9 pages inside to provide space catalogs, brochures, photos or any other lengthy content.

2011 - Fortune Cookies

Building on the success of the Lucky Jumper's, in 2011 we engineered a product to help bring good fortune to all our clients.

The Fortune Cookie features a dimensional take-out container with a menu insert and pop-up cookie inside. Messages can even be printed on the fortunes tucked into each cookie to create a completely customized piece - It's another great dimensional mailer we've fortuitously used in our own marketing campaigns.

The Fortune Cookie is a product exclusive to 3D Paper Graphics. For some creative ways to use this card for your business, check out our March 2015 blog post titled Creative Pop-Ups Spark Audience Interaction.

2014 - Business Cards

Launched in 2014, there are four business card designs officially available. These pocket sized cards are spawned from the full size dimensional BrandStands, Changing Pictures, Exploding Maps and Squeeze-Its.

While we've made 3D business cards in the past for ourselves and some clients, 2014 represented 3D's first official entry into the business card market.

Early in 2015, we began offering these cards for sale online. The cards can be purchased through our 3D Paper Greetings site listed under 3D Business Cards.

We've also got a free sample kit you can receive by Requesting an Estimate.