Pop-Up Books Get The 3D Treatment In "Lost At Sea"

3D to the second power. That’s what design ace Annie Churdar has engineered with her book Lost at Sea, which merges the nostalgia-driven worlds of pop-up books and 3D glasses. Not content with the two-dimensionality of reading (of course, this depends on the depths of your imagination and the author’s skill level), Churdar improved on the traditional three-dimensionality of pop-ups by giving them a 3D imaging sheen.

Complete with its own pair of 3D glasses, the book is a refreshing interpretation on two pop cultural staples that have been done to death. Despite 3D-everything being the craze the past few years, it's seldom been used outside the realm of entertainment technologies such as movie theater screens, home entertainment centers, gaming systems and smartphone apps. But when paired with the retro feel of books, particularly of the pop-up variety, the stereoscopic effect seems to have a few miles left in its application.

Lost at Sea itself seems to be a standard children’s story book (though there’s Mexican sugar skulls and Evil Dead references that suggest something a little darker) as it concerns the story of a character who has to battle untold obstacles after being swept away at sea. Since the visual experience is its focal point, its writing is rather minimalist in nature.

In fact, moveable books were originally intended for an adult audience. First used in the early 14th century, books with movable mechanics, such as pop-up books, were used by scientists and astrologers to better showcase (and show off, one would assume) their complex findings. It wasn’t until the 18th century, so 400 hundred years later, that moveable books became child’s play.

In print’s ever-widening race against digital, it might be prudent to invest in tactile innovations like these. Overstimulated minds have a hard time prying themselves away from all the pretty screens around them, and to many children and adults, a simple book just won’t cut it. The human mind now needs something infinitely novel to command its attention, but the neverending din of a touchscreen world can become taxing. A 3D-infused pop-up book can change all that. As Churdar notes, this is the type of book you can really “get into.”

Images by Annie Churdar