San Martino in Lucca
Stories of the cathedral

TYPE
Book Design
YEAR
2020–2021
CLIENT

After more than twenty years of restoration works, the cathedral of Lucca welcomes us to its «now consolidated architectural features, freed from the dust of centuries and from extraneous substances, and for this reason communicating with us even more clearly».

To celebrate the end of these lengthy and careful works, Paolo Bertoncini Sabatini directed the words of seven great names of scholars and experts in a great illustrated book. Two hundred pictures shot by Andrea Vierucci accompany us by the hand along the way through eight essays that uncover the history, the details, and the secrets of one of the most beautiful churches of Tuscany.

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With hundreds of pictures to place and two versions to close (Italian and English) in few weeks, the design choice for the layout went for an “easy” grid with blocked proportions of text and images. The first always at the bottom half of the page, the latter either on the top half, spreading on the full height of a page, or spreading on two pages.

This system allowed me to easily forecast the room needed for the texts and let the curator move freely the pictures around up to the last days before the deadline. 

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The endpapers feature a wonderful pattern that I recreated from the one engraved in one of the columns of the front façade of the cathedral. I can't believe how many hours I spent figuring out how to weave lines, circles, and dots to recreate the matrix — which then has been repeated in a simple rectangular grid on Illustrator.

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The book is set in Ogg Text, while the headings are in Ogg Roman, both by Sharp Type. Niveau Grotesk is the sans-serif pendant used for captions, notes, paragraph headings, and other small details here and there.

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intarsi-giusti

The essays are introduced by a green page featuring small geometrical drawings: each of them is a design found on the façade of the cathedral, a marble mosaic work that decorates the space over the arches of the loggette. The two designs with rose mosaics are instead from façade's outside walls of the ground floor portico.

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intarsi-corio
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Selected Works

IdentistoriesLogo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design, Illustration

Storie ItalianeBook Design

André Júlio TurquesaAlbum Design, Poster Design, Illustration

Affetti CollateraliBook Design

D1GITArt Direction, Editorial Design

DBLLogo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

HUB/ARTLogo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

Polittico Research LabPoster Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

Roberto Mariani ArchitettoExhibition Design, Art Direction

Genesis Lectures 2019Poster Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

120gBrand Identity, Web Design, Art Direction

LacunaEditorial Design

Diletta BagsLogo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design, Art Direction

TuscanynessBrand Identity

Centro NINALogo Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

Genesis Lectures 2018Poster Design, Brand Identity, Web Design

Affetti DaLogo Design, Brand Identity

Pisa Botanical GardenLogo Design, Brand Identity

Serving Holistic Design / FSB.design

© 2021 Fabio Santaniello Bruun

PIVA IT02264790508

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Serving Holistic Design

© Fabio Santaniello Bruun

p.iva IT02264790508

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