Collector’s editions of the works of Haruki Murakami · Maddi Almond
This collector’s edition series reimagines the novels of Haruki Murakami as objects of design and desire. Inspired by the surreal tone, layered symbolism and quiet unease that runs through Murakami’s work, each book in the series is treated as a highly crafted, tactile experience.
The series includes Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and 1Q84 (Books 1–3). The visual system and production techniques are intended to extend across Murakami’s wider catalogue as a series design.
The series features Duoson, a custom serif typeface designed by Roy Chan. With support for multiple languages and tailored variants for both print and screen, Duoson brings a contemporary elegance and clarity to the project’s typographic voice.
Each book is casebound in grey cloth, with white type and illustrations. Fore-edges are spray-painted in vivid fluoro tones, paired with reversed-out kanji type. Every title is assigned a dedicated colour and icon, with added details like hand-sewn headbands, coloured ribbons, and hand-inked gold elements. The dust jackets are printed on high-quality textured stock and finished with spray stencilling and hand-drawn letterpress-printed illustrations.
A self-initiated project; every detail of these books, from material selection to colour matching, was intended not just to be read, but collected — physical tributes to Murakami’s strange and singular world.
An Examiners’ Award for Excellence goes to Maddi Almond for her personally directed extension project. The examiners commend the high quality of the physical ‘making’, a distinctive element that is explored and maintained through each of this student’s Reflective Practice projects.