The South London Gallery’s permanent Orozco Garden first opened in 2016 and was created over two years by leading international artist Gabriel Orozco, with support by 6a Architects and horticulturalists at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. This publication celebrates the project five years later, exploring the narrative of how this unique space came to life.

The cover design utilises one of Orozco’s early drawings for the garden to create an abstracted form. Printed in a charcoal grey on the front cover to nod to the pencil sketch, and debossed into the back cover to transform it into a physical impression – a surprising texture when holding the book.

A variety of materials have been used throughout the book in reference to the colours and textures found in the garden.

Two differing shades of recycled grey paper for the front and back covers like the York stone bricks; two-toned yellow and red spine cloth for the London-stock bricks. Blue and white striped head and tail-bands for the sky and a recycled green end paper for the foliage. The interior spreads are printed on a warm toned uncoated paper.

The physical building blocks of the garden are referenced within the book layout, where text columns sit at the same ratio size to the brick material.

An illustrative ‘Plant Scheme and Index’ sits after the main narrative of the book, complete with a gatefold annotated map of the garden which details the location and type of vegetation. An in-depth text by Richard Wilford, senior horticulturist at Kew Gardens, explores the garden in a way that can be easily navigated by a visitor, interspersed with archival-inspired illustrations by Augusta Ackerman.

Following the Plant Index is a run of full-bleed photography of the garden in full bloom, printed on a matt coated paper to render the colours to be as bright and realistic as possible.

Text is set in LL Bradford, a contemporary interpretation of high-volume text setting serifs, preserving the physical presence and characterful shapes found in hot metal type. A tall x-height and rounded letterforms fit in with the openness of Orozco’s work without being overly geometric. Reverse contrast strokes on the numerals and a curvaceous italic give an organic feeling of growth.

A Christmas Card for the South London Gallery reusing the same debossing die from the back cover of the publication.