Graphic design for the exhibition "Tolkien, Voyage en Terre du Milieu" at the BnF François Mitterand.

Exhibition, Arts & Culture
Graphic Design
Signage
CL Design
Bibliothèque Nationale de France
Paris, France, 2019
Scenographer: Flavio Bonuccelli
Photographer: CL Design

The BnF holds an exhibition dedicated to the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, a brilliant Oxford professor and creator of worlds, who continues to live in the imagination of a very wide public. For the first time in France, many of Tolkien's original manuscripts and drawings are on display. At the same time, a selection of BnF pieces provides a context for this artistic and literary creation.

It is as admirers of Tolkien's fantastic universe that we are creating the graphics for this exhibition. The scenography designed by Flavio Bonuccelli offers the visitor an invitation to travel to the heart of Tolkien's imaginary geography. The visitor is immersed in an universe through enlargements of original drawings.

We have chosen a typeface that suggests a fairy tale or the design of certain weapons, illuminations specific to each "territory" and playful "magic" devices such as the Gate of Moria or the Palentir. To reinforce the feeling of changing places like changing territories, a cartographic design work has been done on the section panels, which are presented as a travel book for the visitors. This exhibition registered a remarkable attendance of 135,000 visitors in just under four months, a record for BnF and a great honour for the agency.