Chuantao Zhu

Reflecting on desire and arousing desirability at the same time: the work of the young Chinese designer Chuantao Zhu makes you want to pick it up immediately, feel the silky paper between your fingers, and immerse yourself in the perfect book composition. On 2,000 pages and with over 300 drawings and graphics, the theme of “desire” is explored on the basis of Dante’s “Divine Comedy”. In Dante’s work, completed around 1321, Chuantao Zhu sees parallels to today’s society, which all too readily favours fleeting desires over true needs. The recent bachelor’s degree graduate from Macau University of Science and Technology spent a year working meticulously on the layout and artwork, adding an extra layer to both through the effect of materiality. Chuantao Zhu found exactly the material he was looking for in a water-repellent paper with high transparency. The special binding of two book blocks sets a further accent. But that’s not all: in order to do justice to the translation of the “Divine Comedy” into Chinese and English, Chuantao Zhu realised two versions of his work. In addition, a corresponding miniature volume – just the size of the palm of your hand – is also intended to convey the spirit of Dante and make the mirror of reflection tangible at all times. Chuantao Zhu has thus succeeded in creating an impressive overall aesthetic work that would certainly have appealed to his professional role model Armin Hofmann.

Red Dot about Chuantao Zhu

The contrast between black and white reflects the inner struggle and balance within humans.

Chuantao Zhu