Viktor & Rolf: Cover Cover

Dutch design duo Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, along with book queen Irma Boom, collaborated with Artron and Phaidon to complete a groundbreaking artistic experiment.

The book utilizes eight uniquely shaped fold-out pages to construct a dynamic, layered aesthetic. After two years and 37 iterations of cover materials, a magenta transparent soft plastic was ultimately chosen—both to reveal the layered inner pages and to create visual tension with the matte black LOGO.

Artron overcame three major challenges: developing long-tone black printing technology to achieve smooth grayscale transitions; customizing magenta wax thread to match the stitching with the cover's color temperature; and innovating a stress model to solve the problem of layering six different paper weights. 3,350 books were hand-sewn over 35 days with an accuracy of 0.5mm, ultimately winning two honors at the Hong Kong Print Awards.

When the pages unfold to reveal a perfect arc, the battle between art and printing is declared a win-win—a collision of non-professional perspective and top-tier craftsmanship redefines the industry standard of "impossible."