Meet Ndari and Genta, the creative couple behind Sukutangan, a book-cover design outfit based in Batubulan, Bali. Roughly translated from Indonesian as “a tribe of hands”, Ndari and Genta’s brand has become synonymous with thoughtful, compelling covers and professional integrity, among local publishers and readers alike.

On a sweltering Sunday afternoon, on the cusp of the monsoon season, we’re at Littletalks Ubud, a cosy library cafe looking out on to a collage of coconut palms, banyan trees and frangipanis, above a thirteenth-century Hindu temple. Books, primarily by Indonesian authors, occupy almost every horizontal surface except the cake display case, and I wonder if there is a Sukutangan cover among them.

What would I be looking for? Golden ears of wheat crawling like tentacles from a soldier’s steel helmet. A pack of wolves surrounding a cub, their shadows long against a sienna expanse. A wooden house on stilts encircled by cloud wisps emerging from a man’s scalp. A regal rooster standing tall at a lectern. Two white, robed silhouettes in a field of flowers, gazing in opposite directions.

From pointillist landscapes to portraits portrayed as topographical maps, each Sukutangan cover contains its own narrative. Among Ndari and Genta’s vast array of visual styles, depth of conceptual detail has become their signature, setting their work apart from simpler offerings on the shelves. As one customer said on social media, “I actually bought the book because of the cover.”

• Tags: Indonesia, Issue 18, Julia Winterflood, Sukutangan