MATERIAL STORYTELLING // CREATIVE DIRECTION // BESPOKE BOOK

Design as storytelling, memory as material.

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Commissioned by That Book, Sayulita is a bespoke volume conceived as a deeply personal record of time spent in Sayulita, Mexico. Designed to embody the texture, atmosphere, and emotional weight of the trip it commemorates, the book explores how editorial design can act as both container and catalyst for memory.

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Drawing from the visual language of devotional artefacts, the book’s materiality is central to its storytelling. Bound in gold leather and intricately blocked in black foil, the cover features a Sacred Heart milagro at its centre. Inset with rubies and garnets, the spine introduces a fairytale register. Inside, the narrative unfolds through a carefully orchestrated sequence of tactile interventions: die-cuts, fabric inserts, hand-painted papers, sewn booklets, and removable ephemera. Multiple stocks, transparencies, and overlays are used to build rhythm and atmosphere – a visual echo of Sayulita's saturated environment.

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Designed and art-directed in close collaboration with That Book, Sayulita balances opulence with precision – using materiality and imagination to lend weight and coherence to eclectic source material, transforming private experience into a considered, richly sensorial object.

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Client: That Book 

Creative Direction & Design: BIllie Temple