A Story of Relentless Creativity
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Celebrating 20 years of collaboration and innovation at Noma

In 2017, Noma closed its doors. René Redzepi’s acclaimed restaurant, widely known as one of the most influential restaurants in the world, was entering a new era. René and his staff traveled for the next year, experimenting in pop-up kitchens and exploring creativity outside of cooking. With a renewed appetite for innovation, the team reopened Noma a year later in a brand new space built from scratch by BIG.

Published by Artisan Books, Noma 2.0: Vegetable, Forest, Ocean is a celebration of the new Noma, a reflection on nearly 20 years of dining innovation, and a demonstration of sustained creativity through collaboration.

The people who have contributed to Noma’s continued push toward creativity and innovation during the last 20 years are credited by name on the back cover and interior end papers. Within the book each season ends with the perspective of key collaborators, such as landscape designer Piet Oudolf and illustrator David Shrigley.

The experience of flipping through the book mirrors the experience of eating at the restaurant. Every recipe opens with a comprehensive description of the dish that matches the language that a waiter would use to describe a meal to a guest. Next to a dish’s detailed, naturally lit photographs, lives a full list of the ingredients and quantities. This juxtaposition allows for a deeper understanding of the complexity of the dishes, which contrasts the simplicity of the photography. If a reader wants to dig deeper, there’s a companion website (accessible via QR code) with the complete recipes from the Noma kitchen.

The book showcases the layers of creativity at Noma. Piet Oudolf shares the story of designing Noma’s iconic garden and David Shrigley–a frequent Noma collaborator–contributes an artwork titled “How to retain your sparkle.” These chapter breaks sit between a photographic record of nearly 200 dishes that have been served at the restaurant, shot by Noma’s longtime photographer Ditte Isager.