The brief of the project was to design a book cover for The Path to the Nest of Spiders (1947) by Italian author Italo Calvino.

The novel follows an orphaned boy in rural Italy during the second world war, seeking acceptance among adult partisans. The design translates that tension into material form: child-like typography made from swirling metal wire surrounds a solid medieval-style outpost, setting the playful against the grounded. Materials throughout the piece, including raffia and broken glass set against stone, were chosen for what they carry semiotically, evoking the fractured landscape of wartime southern Italy.