Artist Book Design : rondello

In 2016 we worked on a new artist book design for Scottish-based artist Dorian Jose Braun. rondello is an artist book with a run of 22 copies designed for Dorian Jose Braun’s group exhibition Platform:2016, at Edinburgh Art Festival Kiosk.

rondello gives insight into the history of an instrument said to closely resemble the sound of the human voice, designed by Alexander Grant (Inverness, 1856-1942). Grant, fascinated by the qualities of wood and how it vibrated to create musical tone, experimented with the design of the fiddle, resulting in this ‘new violin’, the rondello – as the clippings and archive material found at the Inverness Museum & Art Gallery Archive informs us.

The book includes a text by artist Jasper Coppes and images of the rondello photographed by Claudio Crist. Learn more about it at MAP Magazine. Or buy a copy at Good Press online bookshop.

Available archival material about rondello was turned by My Bookcase into typographical shapes in conversation with Claudio Crist images. 12 different open-sourced typefaces were used. The paper chosen for the cover is from the Colorplan collection by GF Smith & its title was printed using a rubber stamp. All 22 copies were bound by hand.

Working process images :