Publishing house Hatje Cantz has entrusted us with the extraordinary book “House for a Boxer”. This is not the average book, and in this article we are discovering why.
From the first glance, this book instils a vivid curiosity. You can see from the start that this is something peculiar, uniquely designed and carefully realized.
Inch by inch, the curiosity becomes surprise, and surprise becomes astonishment. Let’s follow the story and the technical realization of House for a Boxer.
The Outside
The first thing catching your attention will undoubtedly be the original shape and the game of geometry – a perfectly squared slipcase of 280x280mm in size, hosting a round die-cut at the very heart of the front panel.
This acts as a solid house for the book, and not only. In fact, it holds the book, as well as a customized CD-tray, displayed through the rounded die-cut on the front.
The bookcase structure is realized with a 2mm grey board, duplexed on top and bottom.
As far as the artwork is concerned, it is to highlight that it was thoroughly designed to match the CD tray printed pattern. In addition to this, the matt black on the raw carton is realized thanks to the screen-printing technique.
A first step into the work
As we dive into the slipcase, the CD-tray is the first jealously guarded element.
Your gaze will fall not only on the high complexity of the structure, but also on the bright yellow colour printed on the black board. Moreover, this consists of a 1.5 duplexed board.
This tray is roundly die-cut as well, with a 125mm diameter circle in the middle, allowing room for the yellow CD exposed on the front.
Let’s shift our focus on the printing, as the bright yellow tint on the black board deserves to be just as enhanced.
The screen-printing technique was exploited on this element too. However, it was applied with two passages on the black board – this allowed the bright and intense colour. Furthermore, with a thorough attention, we were able to avoid any register issues even on finest parts of the artwork.
Inside the heart of the bookcase
And finally, the book. House for a Boxer.
As we said before, this is not the average book – as if the bookcase was not enough to make this work extraordinary, in the literal sense.
The book consists in a sewn book block, trimmed to size, sewn with a strong black thread left visible on the spine, as no cover or case are present. This allows a full opening of the book.
Almost every page is printed with 2 colours: black and yellow. These two shades characterize the whole work, from the outer parts to the inner core. The yellow on the inside pages has been tailored with a customized Pantone, in order to match the yellow colour of the screen-printing on the CD-tray.
A splendid result as the one of “House for a Boxer” is achievable thanks to the dedication and passion we put in our work, day by day.
