Black Bears for White Days, White Bears for Black Days (a pop-up picture book)

For the second year in a row during ONE DESIGN WEEK, Studio Komplekt presents interesting graduation projects by Bulgarian designers educated in Bulgaria or abroad. This year they have chosen to present Black bears for white days, White bears for black days, a pop up picture book by the young graphic designer Maria Nalbantova, who graduated in book and print design from the Sofia National Art Academy in 2015.

The main theme of the book are Bulgarian traditional sayings. They are an integral part of Bulgarian folk art. Sayings are something universally accepted as truth, but there is no doubt that we perceive them through our personal experiences. They have been the people’s companion through the centuries, they were transmitted by word of mouth and they carry the popular wisdom of life experience and the lessons that derive from it. With time, the meaning of the words is lost and one understands sayings intuitively, and the book reorganizes and shakes its perception. It enters the intimate space of the reader and he becomes a co author.

The sayings have not been quoted to the letter, there is a mistake, and one of the words is replaced by the word “bear”. The mistake changes the meaning and inner logic of the saying, but the sounding remains the same. This transcends into a different space and it turns out that the mistake causes something a lot bigger. The pop up element as a visually illustrative section is tentative, it does not retell the story of the saying but brings new meaning to it. The book is in black and white and it does not matter what side it is read from, because the black and the white meet in the middle and change places. It contains 12 popular Bulgarian sayings, which are replicated through illustrative and interpretative mediums. A white and black book in one. It has no front and no back. Both sides are a beginning. They meet in the center. This is where the transformation takes place. Maria Nalbantova