Launching on March 23 and celebrating all forms of nudity and body types, you’re going to want to get your hands all over this cheeky riff on the jigsaw puzzle!
Update (Mar 23): Naked Bits' Kickstarter is officially live! Click here to find out how to back the project, along with details of how you can get your hands on the first four puzzles. The fundraiser will be live for the next 30 days.
Original story: What happens when you set taboos free by way of – say, the humble jigsaw puzzle?
Enter Naked Bits, a curated line of adult puzzles that celebrates all forms of nudity, body types, sexualites, and identities by pairing a conventional game with an unconventional topic.
The concept, created by designers Nicole Robinson and Delta Murphy, proudly features images and stories from different decades that highlight the evolution of society’s views on sexuality and nudity.
By pairing the unassuming jigsaw puzzle with traditionally taboo topics, Naked Bits is seeking to deliver an experience that’s engaging and light-hearted, while also challenging puzzlers to learn from the past and listen to the voices of today.
Initially comprising four different puzzles, each release aims to celebrate nudity and body types through images that are spirited, compositionally compelling, and that most importantly, have a story to tell.
Founded on the shared passion for curiosity and creativity, designers Delta Murphy and Nicole Robinson first thought of Naked Bits in 2017 when living and working together in Los Angeles. In 2020, both decided to officially pursue Naked Bits and formed D&N Creative LLC. With Murphy living in New York and Robinson living in Italy, the two virtually collaborated on video calls and meetings to create their first ever Kickstarter campaign – an entirely cross-continental collaboration between friends.
The duo founded Naked Bits to ignite conversations that explore the evolution of society’s perception of sexuality and nudity. In featuring notable photographers, publications, and moments in history, Naked Bits is committed to amplifying stories that force us to reassess our ingrained acceptance of normative expectations.
The first four jigsaws will feature work that covers decades of changing perceptions – from censored nudity in the 1940s, to capturing the sensuality between women and their bodies, to celebrating different body types with fat, trans, and queer subjects in contemporary art.
Launching March 23 on Kickstarter, the initial puzzles – Slave for a Queen, The Forest Swan, Tangled Bodies, and Sisterhood Freedom – are 550 pieces each and feature considered imagery from the works of Bob Mizer, Shoog McDaniel and Anne Barlinckhoff.
A photographer from the 1940s, Mizer never let the pressures of society deter him from pursuing his art. Mizer’s progressive and sometimes controversial pieces are a perfect juxtaposition to the contemporary work of Shoog and Barlinckhoff. Shoog’s work creates an escape – weaving themes of nature and fat liberation throughout – with their use of colours and patterns; while Barlinckhoff uses her photography to invoke pause and reflection, to convey the harmony of serenity, strength, and love.
- For further details of this unique project, visit nakedbitspuzzles.com or head to @nakedbitspuzzles on Instagram.