Shadows, shapes and sculptural books

Bottega Artemia is the studio behind Nanetto!, a project that creates paper book artefacts that double as sculptures.

The Venetian studio’s founder Tommaso Gentile was previously a teacher, and he has always had an interest in print techniques.

Five years ago, as a way to address our increasingly plugged-in, screen-filled world, he decided to experiment with the form and meaning of the book. Ultimately, this revolved around research about the book’s function as an expression of a story – visual or narrative – and how people interact with books as objects. The idea for Nanetto! was born, with the help of Laura Doro and Cecilia Vanin.

Nanetto! is a set of six books bound on all four sides with a three-dimensional shape cut into the book’s surface. Gentile made a large number of prototypes with different shapes to discover what worked best. The books were die-cut using 3D software and printed offset. The project also uses hot foil on the exterior box. Both the sculptural book and a booklet accompanying the project use Materica Limestone papers.

Gentile says: ‘These visual architectures aim to narrate the passing of time. Hour after hour, through the shadows that are created and bloom throughout the day, a visual tale is set up between the environment and the observer, emphasising the present. We wanted to challenge conventional techniques of packaging design, typography and printing.’