Tokyo design studio Spread has used industrial materials to create minimal CD packaging for a Japanese rock band (+ slideshow).
Created for Soutaiseiriron and American producer Jeff Mills' track Spectrum, the casing is made from a solid square slab of metal with the CD housed in a cut-out circular section.
A single metal bolt attached to the centre of the packaging keeps the CD and a circular plastic protective cover in place.
"In a download-centric era, we were able to give new meaning to the CD as an object though its packaging," said Spread's Hirokazu Kobayashi, who founded the studio in 2004.
Despite the format's decline in other parts of the world, CD sales are still robust in Japan, accounting for 92 billion yen (£542 million) in the first half of 2015 alone.
The packaging is wrapped in a plastic bubblewrap envelope, which is labelled with a yellow and black sticker – designed to mimic the "caution" warnings often found on industrial products. When the copper-coloured CD is removed, it reveals abstract black and grey illustration by Etsuko Yakushimaru.
During design meetings, the musicians discussed Sangaku – a traditional Japanese mathematical puzzle – and this also inspired the studio's design work.
"It seeks to express the concepts of art, industrial, experimentation, and minimalism," said Spread. "The solution was these metal objects, each one cut carefully and individually by Tsubame-sanjo area in Japan, which boasts the best metal processing technology in the world."
"The total weight of 0.5 kilograms and the lack of a CD jacket are an attempt to convey deep consideration for the musicians' work and the presence of the object itself," it added.
Other music artwork covered by Dezeen includes Peter Saville's stripy design for pop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Barnbrook's subversive design for The Next Day album by David Bowie, who died earlier this week.