pop-perfect

Today I was going to share one of my favorite things to receive in my mailbox each season: Neiman Marcus's The Book catalog covers, which are always a perfect blend of art and fashion. But as I was looking for some great images to pull, I came across something even better: The Neiman Marcus Pop-Up Book from the holiday season in 2007. Stunning. The 3D book was put together as a retrospective of their history on the 100th anniversary of the iconic brand, and takes on a Cinderella-like fantasy narrative which chronicles the journey of a young girl from the opening days of the store up to the present. The surreal imagery captures some classic Neiman Marcus iconography, including the butterfly, NM's famous Christmas decor and art collection.

This isn't your children's pop-up book. The book features painstakingly complex pop-up scenes constructed from photos (versus the illustration typically associated with pop-up books), which took two years to craft and perfect with the help of paper engineers in England and Holland and under the creative direction of Tim Flannery. Flannery chose renowned fashion photographer Geof Kern for the project, who used laser guides to capture his subjects at the exact same moment from multiple angles and cameras. The result of this dynamic team is the timeless dramatics of style brought to life through discovery, novelty and imagination.

















Unfortunately, The limited edition Pop-Up Book is no longer available through Neiman Marcus. You can find used copies at Amazon to adorn your coffee table. For further reading, I found this interesting article from illustrator Wilson Swain and Paper Engineer and Author Ray Marshall in Kite Tales which details the pop-up book-making process. You can download the pdf and turn to page 10 where the article starts.