Last Thursday I was lucky enough to attend to the selective process of choosing London's representation for the Cut & Paste World Championship; the Village Underground in Shoreditch served as the perfect shelter for the chilly evening, the atmosphere inside was inviting. Smooth funky tunes in the background helped to break the ice for what was to come, on your way to the bar you could play dress up on the HP "Mess with Jess" stand or let go your creative instincts on an Ipad for a good cause. While we waited for the competition to begin, we got to drink, dance and play; fun was the goal, and it was easily achieved. 
Now the back to core of the competition, the theme to develop was "The heart of London". As part of this huge trend that started this spring, consequence of the Olympics propaganda roller coaster of 2012, a proudness of being british and everything there is to it. The theme rescued elements as the identity of the Londoner and what the city has to offer. For us who live in London, the concept touch some soft spots, I clearly felt identify with the inspiration and the the first images and paths were being set I felt like a little kid on a guessing game.
Three teams of very capable and well known designers took places to begin brainstorming on 3 rounds; the excitement and expectation filled the space of the venue, never loosing sight of the screens in front of us, rocking to the groovy beats of the dj. I admired how the very familiar graphic lines were deconstructed to become a whole new design, common denominator the TUBE. The first round consisted of 50% manipulation of images and 50% sketch to create a 2D model. While some designs were too much a student collage in my opinion, others digested the concept in a refreshing way, layering textures and images in a collage of the London lifestyle.
The stakes where set during round two, the 3D modelling stage; as my very reliable sourced explained to me, all three teams worked on MAYA (for the curious souls here more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk_Maya ) a powerful engine for the 3D animators. I was blown away by some of the modelling performed that night, the robotic dub step creature that team #3 created compelled with my wildest childhood dreams of robotics, which my lovely companion and I loved.
I can't get technical with the specs of the event, but since my level of appreciation comes from a design point of view my opinion relies on that fact; I witness, once again, the real advantage behind the deconstruction of solid and well known concepts, how those graphic lines can be incredibly flexible to bend into a new direction, maintaing the essence and soul of the original concept. It is stimulating to experience the application of technology into design, so many tools are out there. I personally can't wait to get my hands of some of those tools, as my capacity allows.
Congrats to the winning team # 2 Jay Harwood & Colin Bigelow, well played!!!!
For more info on the event itself and pictures of the final designs go to: http://www.cutandpaste.com/index.php/news/cp_london_2012_amazing_artwork_winners
