Noma Bar: Cut It Out

Noma Bar, the man with the relentless ability to find the positive in any negative space, has been showcasing his latest work in Outline Editions this week. The best part is that he’s now in the company of an enormous, rather terrifying die-cutting dog. What’s not to like?

If you don’t know Noma Bar’s name straight off, you’ll probably recognise his work. It’s the bold, minimalist shapes that occasionally appear on the covers some of the most widely-sold magazines in the world (including Esquire and The Guardian’s G2 supplement) and induce a resounding ‘second glance’ effect worldwide.

His work encourages the “I could have done that, but didn’t” sort of feeling, until you think about it and realise that he is probably one of an incredibly small minority that see and think in the way he does – and that’s not as easy as it looks.

Where wordsmiths use a few particular words that are loaded with imagery, Bar uses only a few lines and colours to convey an entire story or character – thus making him so appreciated by book and magazine designers; he almost does their job for them.

For The London Design Festival, Noma is allowing the public to go and feed an enormous dog die-cutter scraps of paper to produce their own Noma Bar-style prints. They will then be signed, numbered and sold from as little as £20.

It’s worth a look even if you don’t get a chance to feed the dog – you can just stare at his creations and allow your brain to rearrange itself until it all becomes clear.

www.outline-editions.co.uk
www.londondesignfestival.com/events/noma-bar-cut-it-out