Photographs by Alastair Philip Wiper that reveal the 'unintended beauty' of factories, research labs and shipyards

From Adidas shoe factories, large shipyards, or laboratories such as the Swiss research centre CERN, Wiper's photographic eye picks out the accidental aesthetics, sublime complexities and rich details of our machines. Machines that smash atoms together, build aeroplanes, produce medicine, make shoes, stuff sausages, and more.

"The human mind is capable of extraordinary things," says Wiper. "We create systems, structures and machines that allow us to provide for our lives and answer our questions about the universe. Machines tell the story of our needs and desires, our hopes and follies, our visions for the future."

The new book, Unintended Beauty, is published by Hatje Cantz. Revealing the "unintended aesthetics" of industry, science and architecture, Wiper shows the "imperfectly perfect".

"Something I want to do is challenge what people think of as beautiful because there are a lot of things that you can say are ugly and beautiful at the same time," he adds. "The title of the book 'Unintended beauty' is meant to be a bit provocative. A lot of beautiful things should have a bit of ugliness to them."

Unintended Beauty is printed on Galerie Art Silk paper, and the cover is made from Italian Manifattura del Seveso cotton textile with debossed text and glossy image. The project is supported by the Danish Arts Foundation and Kvadrat with help from ReD Associates. Purchase a copy via alastairphilipwiper.com.