Ron van der Meer

Ron van der Meer is a paper engineer known for designing pop-up books. He was credited for devising/paper engineering (with Andy Mansfield) the 1998 Sesame Street pop-up books Learn About Numbers and Learn About Shapes

Van der Meer's background is in graphic design and he first entered children's books as an illustrator in the 1970s. In 1978, he was influenced by a pop-up book paper engineered by Ib Penick. In 1981, he wrote and designed Monster Island (with paper engineering by others, including John Strejan).

Van der Meer paper engineered most of his subsequent children's books and then moved into designing pop-ups aimed at adults, starting with Sailing Ships (1984). Pop-up guides to the personal computer and the photographic camera followed, but his next major adult pop-up was 1992's The Art Pack, an array of pop-ups, pull-outs, and flaps introducing art history and appreciation, with text and an audio cassette by historian Christopher Frayling. Several similar packs followed, including The Music Pack, The Brain Pack, and The Architecture Pack. His most recent books include How Many (2007), forming paper sculptures out of basic shapes, and Inspiration: A Pop-up Book'' (2013), using Chinese proverbs as the basis.