The DNA of Diego

Opus, are on a constant quest to give an insider view of the subjects of their monumental publications. Whether it’s exclusive dressing-room photos at Old Trafford, behind the scenes at the Monaco Grand Prix or backstage at Paris Fashion Week with Vivienne Westwood, Opus always strive to offer it’s readers unprecedented access. But when Opus teamed up with football’s greatest-ever player and most extreme personality, Diego Maradona, he agreed to take its insider philosophy to even greater depth for his own tome.

During his recent visit to Madrid with his family, a healthy-looking Maradona met up with the Opus team to catch up on the latest developments and see more designed pages from the Maradona Opus. As he leafed through the metre-wide spreads, Maradona admitted to feeling “emotional” to see his life laid out before him on such an unprecedented scale.

At the end of the meeting the team revealed to Maradona our idea to obtain a strand of his hair with the intention of getting his DNA profile produced and published in the Opus. Maradona welcomed the idea and immediately proffered his luxuriant head of hair for sampling. The hair was then plucked freshly from his head to ensure that a healthy bulb was attached to the root, a prerequisite of DNA profiling.

The DNA profile will be used as an abstract visual feature in the Opus. As Opus CEO Karl Fowler explains, “The idea is to show exactly what Maradona is made of. We want to get under the skin of the greatest footballer of all-time.”

In order to get a visually exciting profile made up, the Opus team has had to conduct extensive research to locate a forensic laboratory that still uses an obsolete technology called PCR which produces an x-ray type of result rather than a graph-based one. The complete profiling process, from plucking to final image, will be meticulously documented by our team so watch this s for more images and news!