Printweek - Paper Supply Crisis

I have written before on this blog about the situation in the paper industry, about the shortages and rapid price increases.

A few weeks ago a very interesting article was written by Jo Francis for Printweek magazine covering the situation, which you can read here... 

https://www.printweek.com/briefing/article/navigating-the-paper-supply-crisis

A particularly interesting part of the article is an explanation of how in less than three years, the industry has lost nearly 6 million tonnes of paper & board production, listing the following mill closures and cuts in capacity:

Cuts to capacity – going, going gone – how nearly 6m tonnes per annum of paper production disappeared

Feb 19: Germany’s Scheufelen files for insolvency for the second time in two years. It had produced 140,000 tonnes of premium coated paper per year

Mar 19: Arjowiggins’ largest mill, Bessé-sur-Braye with capacity of 320,000tpa of recycled coated and uncoated papers goes into liquidation after parent Sequana went into administration

Mar 19: Lecta shuts down coated woodfree production on PM 8 (200,000tpa) at its Condat mill, with the intention of converting it to label and packaging papers

May 19: Stora Enso confirms exit from coated woodfree paper market, removing more than a million tonnes of capacity as a result. The 1.08m/tpa Oulu mill in Finland will be converted to packaging board

Feb 20: Sappi Europe says it will close 240,000tpa coated woodfree PM2 at its Stockstadt mill

July 20: UPM closes its Chapelle newsprint mill in France, which produced 240,000 tonnes of newsprint per year

Aug 20: UPM announces it will shut its Kaipola mill in Finland by the end of the year and decommission its three paper machines, an annual reduction of 450,000 tonnes of newsprint and 270,000 tonnes of graphic grades. It also puts a ‘for sale’ sign up at UK newsprint mill UPM Shotton 

Aug 20: SCA says it will exit the publication papers market

Feb 21: SCA makes its last reel of publication paper at its Ortviken paper mill (756,000tpa) where three paper machines were shuttered and the site switched to the production of chemically pre-treated thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP)

April 21: Stora Enso plans to close its Veitsiluoto (790,000tpa woodfree uncoated paper) and Kvarnsveden (565,000tpa SC magazine paper) mills in Sweden, slashing annual capacity by 35% to 2.6m tonnes

May 21: Zanders Paper goes into liquidation. It had two paper machines and capacity to make 325,000tpa of high gloss, cast coated paper, label papers, and board

Jun 21: Stora Enso sells its 310,000tpa Sachsen newsprint mill in Germany. The new owners will convert it to make containerboard

Sep 21: Newsprint production ceases at 250,000tpa capacity UPM Shotton. The new owner is converting the mill to produce cardboard

An excellent piece of research by Jo Francis, thank you.I suggest you read the whole article online.

https://www.printweek.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.04.2022

Zanders Mill closes

There is very sad news that Zanders, the German papermaker has closed. Zanders has been known for its high gloss, cast coated Chromolux range of paper, label papers, and board of which we are the stockist and UK distributor. The mill has been badly hit by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in a decline in sales.

You can read the whole article (including quotes from me!) here: https://www.printweek.com/news/article/end-of-the-line-for-historic-papermaker

Zanders was founded by Johann Wilhelm Zanders in Bergisch Gladbach in 1829 and the Zanders family and name was a major force in the German paper industry until the 1980's when 'merger mania' meant the large groups in the industry were just getting bigger and bigger. Designers and printers working in the 70's 80's and 90's will remember the reputation of the Ikono range with Ikonofix and Ikonorex which were exceptional high quality 'real art' coated art papers which were then joined by the well marketed MegaMatt in the 1990's. The UK agent during that period was John Heyer Paper, who some people may remember.

Yet another very sad day in the paper industry...

PLEASE NOTE: The Reflex Paper Mill which used to be part of Zanders is a separate mill, also based in Cologne and they are nothing to do with Zanders and are not affected. They produce the Zeta range, Trevi label papers and Spectral translucent papers.

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.05.2021

Sublime Data

For over 20 years, the British artist Dan Holdsworth has been blending art, science and nature to produce works which challenge our perceptions and reinvent the notion of landscape. He studied photography at the London College of Printing (1998), and has exhibited internationally including solo shows at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, and Barbican Art Gallery, London; and group shows at Tate Britain, London, and Centre Pompidou, Paris. 

Published by Alaska Editions, Sublime Data is divided into three sections, each being accompanied with an essay.

The size is 320x230mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover using a 115micron acetate and a 136pp text.

So the amazing thing about this publication is the use of a one sided 90gsm for the text, which is a lightweight 'cast-coated' paper which is high gloss coated on one side and dead flat uncoated on the reverse - our Astralux 90gsm. Above image is a gloss coated spread and below is an uncoated spread... 

Colour reproduction is superb and with the light 90gsm weight, the pages flop and fold beautifully.

You probably won't be able to guess, or even believe, is that it's digitally printed! The job was printed and finished by digital print company Typecast Colour, based in Paddock Wood, Kent. It was printed on their Ricoh C901 digital press and the result is superb. For a limited run (this is a limited edition of 75 copies) printing digitally makes a project such as this viable - and on a a material like this, which many litho printers are worried about!...just look at the print result in the detail image below...

The 136pp, sit nice and flat...

...and barely 'gapes' in the middle.

The saddle stitching with black wire is really neat:

My thanks to Typecast Colour for allowing me to photograph their file copy. Publication is designed by Sébastien Montabonel and this really is a superb example of a limited edition artbook. 

http://holdsworth.works/

http://www.typecast.co.uk/

Zanders - see a paper mill in 1 minute!

This new video has recently been posted by Zanders in Germany. It is just one minute long but gives a great insight of the size of machines, the number of coaters and the capacity at the mill ...it's got to be worth taking one minute to watch it:  

As many of you will know, we are the UK stockists for the Chromolux range of cast coated papers...

If you would like Chromolux samples, just drop me an email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://zanders.de/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.12.2019

Chromolux Swatch

Chromolux is a 'cast coated' paper which has a very high gloss and lustre and has an international reputation for quality. Last year we became their UK stockist and distributor.

 The mill has produced some "fan" swatches which are housed in this foam book cover.

Chromolux 700 is a white premium, super glossy, coated board with an ultra smooth surface. Ideal for luxury packaging applications. The range has excellent flatness and dimensional stability and is direct food contact approved (ISEGA). FSC Certified 

https://zanders.de/en/home.php

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.04..2019

Extreme Imagination

The first ever exhibition of works of art created by artists who have no “mind’s eye” casts new light on the creative brain. Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye features works by people who cannot visualise, alongside works by those who have particularly vivid mental imagery.

This is the catalogue for ‘Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye’, an art exhibition produced by the Eye’s Mind research team at The University of Exeter College of Medicine and Health, curated by Susan Aldworth and Matthew MacKisack.

Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye presents their artwork, inviting us to consider the impact of these phenomena on the creative process. How can someone make anything without being able to imagine what they want it to look like? Is there a distinctly hyperphantasic kind of art? Aphantasia and its opposite teach us about human diversity: the easily-missed, potentially startling differences between individuals’ inner lives. The work of the participating artists – and designers, architects, and writers – demonstrates the diversity of means by which things come to be made, challenging long-held beliefs about what it means to be ‘creative’. Find interviews with participating artists here.

The catalogue is divided in two halves in what I would describe as a 'double-ender' - the catalogue can be read from either side – essays on the art, science and philosophy of ‘extreme imagination’ one way; turn it over and you see artist interviews preceding their work on the other.

Size of the publication is 190x115mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The 108pp text is printed on Chromolux 1 sided 120gsm from Zanders in Germany. Chromolux is a cast coated paper, which is gloss one side and uncoated reverse. This publication has been collated in such a way that the gloss coated is one side facing an uncoated side as you can see in the image below:

The uncoated side is matt and tactile as you can see below...

Gloss spread on left, uncoated on right...

reading the other way, uncoated on left, gloss spread on right...

The cover is printed on the black cover material from that other, Hull based, paper merchant! Below shows the very neat, perfect binding.

Extreme Imagination: inside the mind’s eye ran at the Tramway in Glasgow, from January to March and is now at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter, until the 2nd of June.

Catalogue concept and design is by Valle Walkley. Print is by Push.

http://sites.exeter.ac.uk/eyesmind/2018/12/12/extreme-imagination-inside-the-minds-eye/
https://en-gb.facebook.com/thevisualimagination/
http://www.vallewalkley.com/
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2019

Chromolux celebrates 60 years!

There are many paper companies which can claim to have been around for hundreds of years, but there are very few brands which have been in existence for sixty years.

First produced and sold in 1958, Chromolux is sixty years old this year.

Here I am with Karsen Kahmann, sales manager for Zanders on their stand at the Packaging Innovations exhibition at Olympia yesterday for an impromptu Chromolux 60th Birthday party!

Chromolux is a 'cast coated' paper which has a very high gloss and lustre and has an international reputation for quality and we are pleased to be their UK stockist.

https://zanders.de/en/home.php

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.09.2018

Fenner Paper 2018 Diary

If you are a wonderful customer and therefore a deserving user of our papers! ... you will be receiving your new 2018 diary in the post next week. Here's a sneak preview...  

 

As in previous years, the diary is 230x162mm, portrait and retains the popular 'month to view' format. The cover board is printed offset litho in two special pantone colours on Colorset 270gsm.

The 40pp text is simply printed in one colour, offset litho, on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm, which has a superb opacity and a good writing surface making this an ideal paper for a diary or notebook.

 

The diary has been produced in collaboration with the London Centre for Book Arts (LCBA) and features cover artwork by William Luz.

Tucked into your diary will be a handy Chromolux desk calendar to celebrate the fact that the Chromolux range from Zanders is now available through Fenner Paper! 

www.londonbookarts.org

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.12.2017