We have captured some of the splendid daybreak palette of ancient Venice with our Aureo design, inspired by a 1600s Italian cover for a book called The Treatise on Colours. Here we embrace the Renaissance value of cultural rebirth by representing an ancient binding with contemporary bookmaking techniques.
A Venetian morning is alight with marvels. From sunlight sparkling on water to the startling hues of incomparable architecture, Venice enchants the eye from first light to last gloaming. We have captured some of the splendid daybreak palette of the ancient city with these four striking covers.
Our covers are inspired by a Venetian binding for a Renaissance-era book containing two treatises on colours. The discourses in the book focused on the meaning and application of colours in heraldic motifs and instructions for creating and interpreting coats of arms. Strange subject matter today, but at the time these were popular topics, especially for the ruling classes.
In fact, this particular treaty was originally written by Jean Courtois, the Sicily Herald in service of King Alfonso V of Aragon. King Alfonso (known as “the Magnanimous”) had a well-known connection to the infamous Italo-Spanish House of Borgia, known as Italy’s first mafia family. One can imagine they took their colours and coat of arms quite seriously!
The binding itself was crafted from red morocco leather with fine gold borders and checkers of green, red, blue and brown in the midfield. The checkered pattern can be interpreted as a reference to the coats of arms mentioned in the book’s contents. Though the original design was offered in just one colour combination, we have embraced the Renaissance value of cultural rebirth in our multi-hued contemporary interpretation.
In creating this journal cover we imagined ourselves in the city of Venice and were inspired by the idea of waking up and taking in the beautiful colours of the morning. The first light from the morning sun inspired this Aureo colour combination, and the gold tooling pays homage to the lavishness of Italian Renaissance artistry.