Nearly a thousand spectators showed up in 2007 to watch Cut & Paste’s third New York digital design competition—proof of a growing interest in the world of design. What steps are involved in the creative process? How do different designers churn out the perfect product or graphic? The Cut and Paste competition, launched for the first time in New York in 2005, was devised with the intention of answering these questions by exposing every step of the artistic process. In each tournament, rival designers are put in the spotlight. Given a theme on which to base their design, they work on stage under a huge projection screen that shows exactly what they are penciling, penning, erasing, cutting and pasting. This may sound nerve-wracking, and it is. But that is exactly what makes the Cut and Paste tournaments so exciting.
This year, Cut & Paste has planned its largest tournament calendar yet. The tour kicked off with a bang in LA, followed by recent stops in San Francisco and Portland. After hitting Boston, New York, Toronto and Chicago, founder John Fiorelli will take his competition trans-Atlantic to Europe.
A Digital Design Tournament of extreme proportions
The first stop on the list is Amsterdam, a fine starting point for immaculate design. London the world’s most prominent center for design—is the tournament’s second stop in Europe. The disproportional number of designers in the city means that competition for fame is already high. Cut & Paste brings this rivalry between young and emerging artists onto the stage of London’s Coronet theater—making for an interesting contrast between a historic building and the high-tech activity of Cut and Paste.
Though London will be a hard act to follow, Berlin and Barcelona are both quickly becoming important centers of art and design in Europe and their competitions will no doubt have you on the edge of your seat.
Finally, Cut & Paste in Shanghai is another platform that bridges the gap between historic and modern. The city where ancient temples and brand new skyscrapers coexist presents both an inspiration and a challenge for young Chinese designers as they attempt to satisfy both the traditional and the contemporary.
