In our last design class, we briefly talked about Nejc Prah. Rob showed us some of his work and it immediately recognized it from a Frank Ocean's single cover (DHL, and In my room.) I did not know that those single covers were made by Prah. To be honest, before this lecture I did not even know who Nejc Prah was but I really gravitated towards his work. It reminds me of an exhibition I saw in Stedelijk museum, Colorful Japan. So after our class, I did some research and got some new insides.
During my research, I came to understand the way Prah approaches his projects. In a lot of his work, you can find very simple objects such as screws, brooms, but also a lot of fruits and vegetables. He photographs these items and uses the shapes of the objects as new shapes in his work. In one of the posters, Prah made for Koordinate Zvoka (a music event) you can clearly see this approach. From afar you may not immediately notice all the different objects he used in this image, but taking a closer look you can see that he used the following objects broccoli, cauliflower, bell pepper, onion, and potatoes.
Prah is also an identity creator. He creates a lot of new identities for already existing businesses. A good example is the new identity of Fotopub. A photography festival in Novo mesto, Slovenia. In 2013 he recreated the identity of the festival. He did this by using a cracking egg as the new symbol. A symbol that stands for the rebirth of the festival.
But also the identity from Tresk (a small music festival in Slovenia). He used an earplug as the main inspiration for the poster he created for this festival. He chose this object because earplugs are about blocking sounds, but lots of people wear earplugs when they go see music shows.
In one intervieuw Prah says:
"Orange is a great piece of design. It has an elegant shape (organic round), colour (orange) and texture. The skin functions as a protective layer, smells good and is full of oils. Once you peel it, the inside is sectioned into small portions which makes it easy to eat and share. It is sweet, juicy and healthy."
The way Prah describes this orange makes it sound like so much more than just a regular orange. Maybe this could be seen as a way of creating value. It helps you understand what the orange has to offer. But if you then take a look at what Prah has created from the orange it is totally different from the way he described it. He puts it in a different context which gives it a different meaning.
This is something I have been struggling with during my own project. I find it hard to look at my object and imaging it in a different context or to give it a different function/purpose. I try to think of ways to create value. But for me, this only resulted in a lot of thinking and not creating.
So having done my research on Prah and learning more about his approach I will challenge my self to approach my subject in a similar way. Just to see where that will take me.
