Bateleur Magazine Cover artwork
Prize(s):
WINNER 2026 Print & Digital / Book and Magazine
Company Name:&Beyond
Lead Designer(s) Name(s):Terry Parenzee (Creative Director)
Design Team / Other designer(s):Julia Becker (Layout designer)
Other Contributor(s):Claire Trickett (Magazine editor)
Client Name:Bateleur Magazine
Photo Credit:Clinton Friedman, Dylan Royal
Project Location:South Africa
Design Status:Commercialized
Website: View
Video URL:View
Project Description:
Bateleur is a luxury travel magazine designed to inspire transformative, impactful travel. Each issue pairs long-form storytelling from international journalists with a distinctive design approach: the cover interprets the magazine’s lead feature through craft and design, rather than destination photography. Previous covers have included a sculptural food installation exploring travel memories shaped by taste, and a hand-embroidered Bhutanese textile celebrating Himalayan craftsmanship. For Issue no.4, the cover becomes a physical installation telling a conservation story. Titled Sands of Time, the artwork forms a coral reef created from individually handcrafted ceramic pieces, arranged in the loosely heart-shaped outline of Mnemba Island in Zanzibar. Photographed in natural beach sand, the installation evokes the fragility of ocean ecosystems. At first glance, it appears delicate and serene. Look closer and a narrative unfolds. Vibrant coral tones gradually fade to white, referencing the global coral bleaching crisis. The result is both artwork and a deeper message, transforming the magazine cover into a tactile expression of environmental storytelling.
Bateleur is a luxury travel magazine designed to inspire transformative, impactful travel. Each issue pairs long-form storytelling from international journalists with a distinctive design approach: the cover interprets the magazine’s lead feature through craft and design, rather than destination photography. Previous covers have included a sculptural food installation exploring travel memories shaped by taste, and a hand-embroidered Bhutanese textile celebrating Himalayan craftsmanship. For Issue no.4, the cover becomes a physical installation telling a conservation story. Titled Sands of Time, the artwork forms a coral reef created from individually handcrafted ceramic pieces, arranged in the loosely heart-shaped outline of Mnemba Island in Zanzibar. Photographed in natural beach sand, the installation evokes the fragility of ocean ecosystems. At first glance, it appears delicate and serene. Look closer and a narrative unfolds. Vibrant coral tones gradually fade to white, referencing the global coral bleaching crisis. The result is both artwork and a deeper message, transforming the magazine cover into a tactile expression of environmental storytelling.
Project Innovation / Specification:
Rather than relying solely on digital illustration or photography, the cover was conceived as a three-dimensional installation created specifically for the magazine. Each ceramic coral form was hand-shaped, painted and fired by Gwyneth Gosling, a South African ceramic artist known for work inspired by coastal ecosystems. Every piece echoes the organic textures and forms of coral structures found on Indian Ocean reefs. The installation was then carefully arranged to mirror Mnemba Island’s distinctive heart-like shape. Positioned within a bed of natural beach sand and photographed from above, the composition becomes both landscape and metaphor. This approach allowed the cover to function simultaneously as fine art, environmental storytelling and editorial design. The gradual colour shift from vibrant coral to bleached tones creates a subtle narrative of ecological stress, communicating a complex environmental issue through visual design rather than text. By physically constructing the artwork rather than generating it digitally, the project introduces tactility, authenticity and craftmanship into the magazine’s visual language.
Rather than relying solely on digital illustration or photography, the cover was conceived as a three-dimensional installation created specifically for the magazine. Each ceramic coral form was hand-shaped, painted and fired by Gwyneth Gosling, a South African ceramic artist known for work inspired by coastal ecosystems. Every piece echoes the organic textures and forms of coral structures found on Indian Ocean reefs. The installation was then carefully arranged to mirror Mnemba Island’s distinctive heart-like shape. Positioned within a bed of natural beach sand and photographed from above, the composition becomes both landscape and metaphor. This approach allowed the cover to function simultaneously as fine art, environmental storytelling and editorial design. The gradual colour shift from vibrant coral to bleached tones creates a subtle narrative of ecological stress, communicating a complex environmental issue through visual design rather than text. By physically constructing the artwork rather than generating it digitally, the project introduces tactility, authenticity and craftmanship into the magazine’s visual language.
Project Sustainability Approach:
Sustainability lies at the heart of the installation’s concept. The cover was designed to translate an environmental challenge into a visual narrative, using art to draw attention to the fragility of coral reef ecosystems. Titled Sands of Time, the sculptural coral reef gradually shifts from vibrant colour to pale tones, reflecting the process of coral bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures. The transition is subtle but deliberate, inviting the viewer to pause and recognise what is being lost beneath the ocean’s surface. The artwork acts as a visual gateway to the magazine’s cover story, which explores marine conservation work around Mnemba Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. These initiatives include coral restoration programmes where fragments are cultivated in underwater nurseries and transplanted onto degraded reef areas to support long-term reef recovery. By transforming the magazine cover into a tactile installation rather than a digital image, the project connects design with environmental storytelling and demonstrates how visual communication can spark curiosity, awareness and engagement with environmental challenges.
Sustainability lies at the heart of the installation’s concept. The cover was designed to translate an environmental challenge into a visual narrative, using art to draw attention to the fragility of coral reef ecosystems. Titled Sands of Time, the sculptural coral reef gradually shifts from vibrant colour to pale tones, reflecting the process of coral bleaching caused by rising ocean temperatures. The transition is subtle but deliberate, inviting the viewer to pause and recognise what is being lost beneath the ocean’s surface. The artwork acts as a visual gateway to the magazine’s cover story, which explores marine conservation work around Mnemba Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. These initiatives include coral restoration programmes where fragments are cultivated in underwater nurseries and transplanted onto degraded reef areas to support long-term reef recovery. By transforming the magazine cover into a tactile installation rather than a digital image, the project connects design with environmental storytelling and demonstrates how visual communication can spark curiosity, awareness and engagement with environmental challenges.
Local and Regional Impacts of the Project:
The cover highlights the careful ecological rebuild of Mnemba Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. Alongside the lodge’s reconstruction, a large-scale restoration programme addressed shoreline erosion with a protective sea wall, removed invasive casuarina forest and replanted more than 4,000 indigenous seedlings to restore the island’s natural vegetation. Beneath the waterline, coral fragments are cultivated in underwater nurseries before being transplanted onto damaged reefs and artificial structures, helping regenerate biodiversity within this protected marine area. The project also celebrates regional creativity through collaboration with a South African ceramic artist, connecting African craft with ocean conservation and amplifying awareness of reef protection across the continent.
The cover highlights the careful ecological rebuild of Mnemba Island in the Zanzibar Archipelago. Alongside the lodge’s reconstruction, a large-scale restoration programme addressed shoreline erosion with a protective sea wall, removed invasive casuarina forest and replanted more than 4,000 indigenous seedlings to restore the island’s natural vegetation. Beneath the waterline, coral fragments are cultivated in underwater nurseries before being transplanted onto damaged reefs and artificial structures, helping regenerate biodiversity within this protected marine area. The project also celebrates regional creativity through collaboration with a South African ceramic artist, connecting African craft with ocean conservation and amplifying awareness of reef protection across the continent.
