Penguin Random House New Zealand
Award for Best Illustrated Book 2024
Finalist
Designers: Cover: Shaun Naufahu (Alt Group)
Interior: Shaun Naufahu (Alt Group) & Katrina Duncan
Title: Pacific Arts Aotearoa
Publisher: Penguin Random House NZ in association with Pacific Arts, Creative New Zealand|Toi Aotearoa
Format: 254 x 178mm, 544pp.
Section-sewn, case-bound (square-backed, with head & tail bands). Paper lined case over 3.5mm boards with 1mm overhang, blind debossing on front and back, block edges sprayed yellow, with French-folded bellyband.
Typography: Artist profiles: Agipo, 8/14.4pt
Essays: Signifier 10/13.125pt
Koloa Tuku, the typeface designed by Shaun Naufahu for the online Pacific Arts Legacy Project, has been used to create a pattern at the edge of all pages.
“An extension of the online Pacific Arts Legacy Project where Pacific artists write about their own legacy and influence. Archival photographs and ephemera illustrate the book alongside contemporary imagery of artists and artworks. The book should have a lively, vivid, energy – with diversity in colour, shape and form through the different pages, reflecting the unique array of Pacific people, islands, artworks. The reading experience should feel energising, playful, and be a vivid, memorable experience. It’s not a traditional academic art book, nor a textbook. Instead, a coherent, powerful, immersive reading-and-looking experience in chapters that build up to share a worldview.”
Judges’ comments This book is a vibrant celebration of Pacific Arts in Aotearoa. The whole package is rich in content and passion. The creative choices — from bold colour blocking, intricate Pacific patterns and motifs on the edges and daring typography — root the book firmly in its cultural identity. It’s a kaleidoscopic portrait of a community, breaking traditional design rules in a way that feels both evocative and engaging. The result is a lively, immersive experience that captures the essence of Pacific people and art, creating a memorable, celebratory keepsake.
