In 2016, BEKRAF Indonesia and ADGI invited 10 graphic design studios from Indonesia to represent the country in the year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Started since 1454 in Frankfurt, Germany, it is one of the most prominent cultural events in the world. In 2015, Indonesia was the guest of honour of Frankfurt Book Fair with the theme of 17.000 Inseln der Imagination (17.000 Islands of Imagination). We were entrusted to be one of Indonesia’s participants.

Our work is a reinterpretation of Laksmi Pamuntjak’s novel, Amba (The Question of Red) in the form of a 195-page book. We visualized the events that transpired in the book on each page by exploring the elements of typography, images, and materials. The novel Amba itself tells a story about a tragic romance in the midst of Indonesia’s most tumultuous period of social change, a seminal work that won the LiBeraturpreis 2016.

Ripped papers treatment for the book’s cover and interior.

A few of the book’s interior pages. We experimented with the book’s layout, compositions, and proportions, in regards to its particular contents.

The book’s various details and treatments.