Showing posts with label St Brides Foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label St Brides Foundation. Show all posts

Thursday 26 May 2022

The annual Wayzgoose at the St Bride Foundation

Last Sunday, I had a stall at the St Bride Foundation WAYZGOOSE. This is a term (unfamiliar to most people) that used to refer to an annual holiday in a print-works and was often an awayday to the coast or some other sort of day out, more often than not, paid for by the firm. In this instance the St Bride Wayzgoose is a kind of letterpress 'bring and buy' sale.
Thirty tables displaying and selling many different items - everything from lead type to the Adana tabletop presses (see below picture) from Caslon, to secondhand books and printed examples of work.
Below is the table that I was allocated, where, as with previous years, I adopted a "throw it all on the table" approach! I took lots of offcuts and discontinued paper and board items. All paper and card sold by weight - 40 pence per 100 grams.
I served at my 'paper stall' from 11am to 4pm  ...and by the end of the day I had raised £206, all donated to the St Bride Foundation.
...and here is my beautifully crafted 'Weigh & Pay' signage.by Helen Ingham from the Hi Artz Press - It's now lasted three wayzgooses!
My thanks to all the staff and friends at St Bride's who organised the event.
https://sbf.org.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 26.05.2022

Thursday 20 August 2020

XX: A Novel, Graphic

This is the title of a forthcoming book by Rian Hughes and also a talk (via Zoom) which is being hosted by the St Bride Foundation on September 2nd.
‘Brilliant, exciting, absorbing and mind-blowing... a perfect work of art about what it means to be human in a world of gigantic ideas’ Grant Morrison
Rian Hughes is a graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, writer and typographer who has worked extensively for the British and American advertising, music and comic book industries. Rian has designed new fonts, curated old ones, drawn illustrations and diagrams and taken photographs to graphically enhance the narrative of his book, XX: A Novel, Graphic. These are supplemented by redacted NASA reports, artwork, magazine articles, secret transcripts, and a novel within the novel called Ascension .

In this talk he will give an insight into his explorations that led to his creation of the book to tell a story like no other...

You can book tickets here which are just £5.00 or £21.00 with a signed copy of the book - it's great value and a wonderful way to support St Brides.

https://www.sbf.org.uk/
https://www.sbf.org.uk/whats-on/view/xx-a-novel-graphic-exploring-the-narrative-potential-of-graphic-design/
https://www.devicefonts.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 20.08.20

Thursday 13 February 2020

Where does the art go?

Next week, there is a talk at the St Bride Foundation given by Mark Titchner, which sounds really interesting...

Mark Titchner is an artist living and working in London. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2006, participated in the Venice Biennale in 2007 and was Artist in Residence at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto in 2012. He has recently completed a major new permanent public work, ‘Me, Here Now’ which is installed at London Bridge Station. He is currently involved with the Mental Health and Justice project, a multi-disciplinary research initiative funded by Wellcome, working with the team that are investigating issues around the assessment of mental capacity, particularly in relation to complex or contested cases.

Mark Titchner’s work involves an exploration of the tensions between the different belief systems that inform our society, be they religious, scientific or political. Focusing on an exploration of words and language, in recent years much of his production has been based in the public realm both in the UK and internationally. These public works have often been created from extended group activities. In this talk he will present a number of approaches to making art in the public realm with projects that vary from large permanent commissions to those produced in closed psychiatric units.
The talk is next Thursday 20th February. Tickets are only £12.50 (£8.00 for students) and you can book tickets HERE 
 
Go on ...stimulate the grey matter and get the brain cells going.
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 13.02.2020 

Tuesday 10 December 2019

Type Directory - Launch

Last Wednesday evening, I was privileged to be at the launch of a new book which is set to be required reading for anyone studying design and type.  This new book contains over 1,800 typefaces which are organized by category – Serif, Sans Serif, Display and Script – and subsequently arranged by recognized sub-categories. This allows the reader to make a direct comparison of typefaces with a similar appearance, thus facilitating a deeper understanding of the design and selection process.
The launch was held at the St Brides Foundation, the heritage home for type and surely the most appropriate place to launch a book such as this. The evening began with an introduction by the St Bride Foundation librarian, Sophie Hawkey-Edwards followed by a short speech by author Peter Dawson.
There were over a hundred people at the launch. There were also many typographic objects from the St Bride collection on display, including some original work from Margaret Calvert.
Click on images to enlarge
...and here is the book itself
"Wherever we go and whatever we do, the printed word plays a part in every aspect of our day-to-day lives. Behind all the messages we see, read, and absorb, the design and choice of typeface dictate the tone, context and immediacy of these words. From advertising and news headlines to book jackets or wayfinding at an airport, choosing the most appropriate typeface is not an easy task, nor one based on aesthetic alone. With such a diverse and inspiring range of types now on offer, Type Directory separates and identifies these forms to provide a comprehensive selection of available typefaces."
Click on images to enlarge
The visual celebration of the craft, innovation and beauty of these letterforms is presented throughout, from classic typefaces like Garamond, Bodoni and Times through to the contemporary Bliss, Gotham and Meta. It is the ultimate visual encyclopedia...
The size of the book is 235x225mm, portrait, and is packed with 672pp making the spine a massive 50mm! Hopefully you can see the scale of the size of book from the image below...
This is a major work and I'm sure it is set to be the type bible for the forseeable future. You will be pleased to know that the book is available for sale and that you can get it in time for Christmas! You can buy it here.

https://www.gradedesign.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.12.2019

Thursday 14 November 2019

Pergraphica at St Brides

Yesterday evening,  I jointly hosted a small event together with Mondi, the manufacturer of our new Pergraphica range of text and cover papers. We invited a small group of designers from a variety of different studios to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation. There were about twenty of us in all and the evening started with an introduction about the Pergraphica range by Isabel Bernd (below) from Mondi.
We then moved to the Letterpress workshop and were given a history and briefing by the technicians, Bob, Barry and Andrew.
Then everyone was encouraged to have a go at inking up and printing...
For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop, conference rooms.

Everyone had a go at  lino-cutting, Andrew had selected the letter E from a Pouchet engraved alphabet which was divided into 16 pieces which were individually cut by different people over the course of the evening.
...just look at the concentration!
When each of the panels was finished they were assembled and put on a proofing press, as you can see below:
...and here is Andrew Long with the first print:
...and here's the finished result:
Thanks to Mondi for sponsoring the event and for providing the Pergraphica paper used throughout the evening.

My personal thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Bob Richardson, Mick Clayton, Andrew Long and Barry who made the evening really good fun.

www.sbf.org.uk
https://www.mymondi.net/ufp/en/brand-group/pergraphica
Posted by Justin Hobson 14.11.2019

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Workshop Fun

Last week, I organised for a small group from The Partners to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation. There were about twenty of us in all and after an introduction and briefing by Michael Clayton the group were encouraged to have a go at setting type, inking up and printing.

For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop, meeting and conference rooms. It is still located in the original building, just off Fleet Street.
As well as printing, Andrew Long demonstrated lino-cutting and most people had a go. As the name suggests, this technique is actually engraving into a piece of floor linoleum, which is then inked and used to print from. The results can be amazing! ...you can see the concentration at the lino cutting bench below:
Andrew, selected one of Stanley Donwood’s London Flood prints. The engraving which was divided into 15 pieces which were then individually cut by different people over the course of the evening. I even had a go and this was my section (as you can see, I initialled it with a cheeky J!)
At the end of the evening the pieces were assembled and below, you can see Marc Spicer printing the result: 
...and here he is holding up the finished result:
Below is the comparison with the original on the right hand side
You might have spotted there is a head floating in the river which looks like me! Thanks to Nick Eagleton's lino cutting skills, he used his piece of lino to produce a likeness of me, which he also used to print me a card below
You can read a far more erudite version of the evening on The Partners blog written by Marc: http://www.the-partners.com/blog/2017/8/11/letter-heads

It was a really fun evening, where everyone got a chance to have a go and join in. We had some food and a few drinks laid on at St Bride's and a few of us even made it to The Old Bell on Fleet Street afterwards!
My thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Mick Clayton, Andrew Long and Bob Richardson who made the evening really good fun.

I just wanted to note that Peter Smith who is resident wood engraver at St Bride was unable to join us as he is recovering after an operation but I want to wish him well and a speedy recovery.

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.08.2017

Wednesday 3 December 2014

St Brides Christmas Lecture - 10th December

The St Brides Annual Christmas lecture is next week and you should think about going!

Brian Webb and Rob Shepherd will be talking about their involvement in the making of the special edition of Under Milk Wood that Sir Peter Blake illustrated to coincide with the Dylan Thomas centenary. The work Blake produced depicting characters and key scenes from the play has been a labour of love as it's taken him just under 30 years to complete – he's created 170 works so far!
© Sir Peter Blake
The artworks were shown in a special exhibition at The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff earlier this year. The Queen Anne Press (once owned by Ian Fleming) has now published various editions of a book showcasing Blake’s work from the exhibition, ranging from a paperback edition priced at £30 and a Fine Binding edition of 10 books priced at £5,500 per copy! The Fine Binding edition is the subject of the talk and you can see the cover design here:
© Sir Peter Blake
Brian Webb is an extremely known designer having been one half of Trickett & Webb and who now runs his own studio Webb & Webb. Rob Shepherd is a book binder, from Shepherds, Sangorski & Sutcliffe, who is responsible for this beautiful fine bound edition.

...and if that weren't enough, there a glass of wine and a mince pie included in the ticket price! Tickets are just £15 (concessions are available). 7pm on 10th December.

You can book (excuse the pun!) here:
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/to-begin-at-the-binding-brian-webb-and-rob-shepherd-tickets-14261156503?aff=es2&rank=9

http://www.queenannepress.com/dylanthomas.html
http://www.sbf.org.uk/
http://www.webbandwebb.co.uk/
http://www.bookbinding.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 03.12.2014

Wednesday 26 March 2014

The only paper company at IPEX!

Further to my post about IPEX (International Printing Exhibition) last week, it may interest you to know that this week I find that I am now at the exhibition all week!

I was contacted by our friends at the St. Brides Foundation and offered a space to display our products on their stand, which we gratefully accepted. It was lovely to be offered a great opportunity which we didn't want to miss out on, so I put together a stand to show our various paper ranges and set up for the week long exhibition.
On Monday, it struck me that there wasn't one other paper company at the exhibition, not one! Not a paper mill, agent or paper merchant in sight ...with the exception of Fenner Paper! Having conducted a quick bit of research, it seems that there have been paper companies at every IPEX since 1880!
 
My first IPEX was in 1988 when I was on the Scheufelen stand for the James McNaughton Paper Group. As in previous and subsequent years, there were many paper mills from around the world exhibiting and paper and print were in harmony! ...by that, I mean that there was an appreciation that you couldn't have a printing exhibition without something to print on!
 
I'm pleased that we were able to step forward and make sure that this wasn't the first paperless IPEX in history. If you are visiting ExCeL this week, please come and see us on stand N1 B130.
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 26.03.2014