Box Your Book

Boxed: 2021
Binding: Box for existing book

In 2021, the Stichting Handboekbinden issued a call to create a box for your favorite book. I responded to this call with this box for the book 'Schaduwkind' by P.F. Thomése.

Schaduwkind is about the sudden, unbearable loss of a child. Or, in a broader sense, about grief. A layered, smooth ‘paper pebble’ encloses the book. The round box is composed of many layers of cardboard. I used alternating black and white museum board and greyboard. Magnets are incorporated into both halves to ensure a subtle closure. The box has been sanded smooth and finished with black Ecoline and white acrylic paint.

The design of the box depicts the various shades of grey in the shadow. Shades of grey that also contain the stages of grief (from the deepest black to the brightest white). The soft, round shape indirectly refers to the curves of a woman's pregnant belly and the softness of a newborn baby. The book, safely and deeply stored within all those layers.