LCBA talks: The Nuances of Production by Darryl Lim

Lithographic printing and its processes in a nineteenth-century Muslim-Malay world.

The London Centre for Book Arts is very happy to host a talk by book and print historian, and friend of the studio, Darryl Lim whose research focuses on regional histories of the book in Southeast Asia in relation to the global histories of printing and examines technical aspects of print technologies.

Singapore-lithographed Qur'an from Pakualaman Mosque, Yogyakarta

This presentation will introduce some aspects of Malay lithographic print production in the 19th century, gathered from close observations of printed marginalia and marks left during the printing process. The talk will examine localised innovations developed in the unique environs of the Malay world; discuss the presence of anonymous individuals that laboured in the making of these printed objects, and highlight how Muslim-Malay manuscript practices dovetailed with Western book production techniques and Islamicate bookmaking traditions. 

The date is Friday, November 1st and the event is free to attend. Everyone is welcome. Drinks will be served and the LCBA shop will be open late alongside our current Library Show: 

Dr Wei Jin Darryl Lim is an independent book and print historian from Singapore. His research focuses on regional histories of the book in Southeast Asia in relation to the global histories of printing, and examines technical aspects of print technologies. His doctoral research (completed at the University of Reading) on the history of lithography in the Malay world is published in journals such as Indonesia and the Malay World, and a forthcoming special issue of Contextual Alternate. He was previously the American Printing History Association’s Mark Samuels Lasner Fellow (2019), and a Early Career Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies, University of London (2022–23).

You can book your ticket here...

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lcba-talks-the-nuances-of-production-by-darryl-lim-tickets-1053794811649?aff=oddtdtcreator

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.10.2024

Wembley Park by Quintain

Quintain are creating a new 85-acre neighbourhood, offering 8.8 million sq ft of mixed-use development, including over 500,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space. When finished, Wembley Park will get over 20 million visitors a year and have an annual retail spend comparable to Ealing Broadway, Camden Town and Victoria.

This stunning brochure is 290x230mm. Printed on Omnia throughout, the solid flat colours and images have reproduced beautifully.

The publication has a 4pp cover and a 40pp text, both on our Omnia, chosen because it would beautifully reproduce the photography with the retail images superbly - without forgetting the fleshtones and of course the solid areas of flat colour ...and it looks wonderful!

The spine is about 10mm and for those reading this who are thinking, that's awfully thick for a 40pp text, you'd be right, but read on...

Yes, it does only have 40pp, but it is lay-flat bound, which as you can see from the below image, lays completely open and totally flat...

So, how does it work? Sheets that have been printed on one side are folded and collated into their book form, which are mounted (glued) back to back to form a book block. The text pages are using Omnia 150gsm which makes each 'page' 370mics thick. The book block has then been bound into the pre-creased cover which forms an open V as there is no glue in the spine, as you can see in the images below...

...and the final spread is this amazingly bright fluorescent orange (printed a special)

The publication is printed offset litho in CMYK plus a special. Print is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood with Paul Martin handling the project.

https://wembleypark.com/shops-markets/
https://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.10.2024

Crush - a truly sustainable paper

Many of you will know about our lovely range called CRUSH made by Favini in Italy. The paper is made partly using the residue from the industrial processing of crushed citrus fruit, coffee, nuts, olives, kiwi, corn, lavender cherries and grapes, these agro-industrial "end of life" products replacing up to 15% of conventional tree pulp. The range is available in 100, 120, 200, 250 and 350gsm and the shades are natural, earthy tones and the feel of the paper is natural and tactile.

The 15% process residues are combined with 40% recycled fibres (post consumer waste) and the remainder is FSC virgin pulp and the product is FSC certified. The range is produced using green energy and is carbon balanced at the mill gate (we can also supply the paper in the UK, certified as carbon balanced)

This is the current swatch which shows the colours and range of weights...

Below are more detailed images and hopefully you can see the small specs and inclusions in the paper. Corn, Citrus, Cocoa and Grape, pictured below, are totally natural shades produced without the use of any dies, which can result in an amount of shade variation from batch to batch.

Click on images to enlarge

The deeper shades are produced with the addition of environmentally friendly vegetable dies which ensure greater colour consistency...

...and the latest addition to the range is Crush Coconut, which is a lovely shade of black

Design and art direction is by Silk Pearce.

If you would like a copy of the current swatch, just ask me for one! Email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.favini.com/gs/en/products/crush/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.2024

Jobs from the past - Number 179

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by - this project is from 2017

Jimmy Choo - Cruise 2017

Founded in 1996, Jimmy Choo is now an iconic luxury fashion brand defined by an empowered sense of glamour and a confident sense of style.

The size is 210x148mm (A5) portrait and is saddle stitched. The publication has a 8pp cover with a 28pp text.

The 8pp cover is printed on our Omnia 280gsm. Both the cover and text are printed CMYK plus a metallic gold pantone as a special. The front cover has a raised, embossed foil for the Jimmy Choo brandmark - which I hope I have managed to capture in the image below. Omnia is a very bulky sheet, so it embosses superbly, taking a deep embossing superbly.

Click on images to enlarge

It is printed offset litho in four colour process throughout. As always (...this is the plug for the paper!) the images look superb on the Omnia; the fleshtones in particular look absolutely stunning and the reproduction of the jewels and metallic images is great - keeping all the detail in those heavy areas of CMYK together with uncoated paper tactility which would be lost on other papers.

Click on images to enlarge

The detail on the handbags in the below image is stunning...

The size and combination of weights is just right and the book flows superbly in the hand. The text is printed on Omnia 150gsm.

The book is section sewn, with a nice flat spine which is also hot foil blocked.

Art direction and design is by the design studio at Jimmy Choo. The peerless print and print production is by Gavin Martin.
https://www.jimmychoo.com/
https://www.gavinmartin.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2024

St Bride Foundation Design Conclave 2024

On Saturday it was the Design Conclave at the St Bride Foundation. Nine fantastic speakers and a whole day of thinking outside the lines...

It all began at 10.30...

https://www.instagram.com/danieljames.photographic/

https://www.instagram.com/danieljames.photographic/

The online audience reached far and wide from Ipswich to Texas to Paris - a truly global event.

https://www.instagram.com/danieljames.photographic/

Here are just a couple of the words received so far from attendees which resonates with how everyone on the day felt: 

‘It was absolutely inspiring listening to all the amazing speakers and learning about their creative journey, how they got to where they are now, and how each of them created their own unique space in the industry. It was also really great getting to talk to them afterwards and connect with the other creatives in the room.’

‘I loved how the speakers were so unafraid of finding their place in work – it seems so freeing.’

‘I just wanted to share my thoughts on yesterday’s event at St Bride Foundation – it was truly amazing! I found it incredibly inspiring, especially Kelli Anderson’s presentation. Please keep organising events like this! :)’

https://www.instagram.com/danieljames.photographic/

‘Thank you so much for organising such a brilliant event! I felt so inspired by the speakers and the range of different work . . . It was also super special to hear about the speaker’s own doubts and struggles and how their work helped get them out of challenging points in their lives. I spent the rest of the weekend doing crafts as I felt so motivated to do work just for me!’

‘I have found this event to be very useful in thinking “outside the lines” by hearing all these amazing creatives talk about their processes and creative journeys. It has been amazing finding these creatives – the majority to which I haven't heard of – and seeing their outlooks on how they got where they are. I especially loved Aoife Dooley and Seb Lester’s talks! I have been given a better understanding creating opportunities for yourself by being unique doing the things you love and experimenting, all of which I have been trying to embody in my work.’

Everyone was invited to spend some time in the workshop, which they thoroughly enjoyed...

https://www.instagram.com/danieljames.photographic/

As one of the sponsors of the event, we were invited to have a 'stall' where I showed samples of papers from our ranges as well as printed examples...

Fenner Paper are pleased to be one of the sponsors of this superb event and I had a great day too!

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.09.2024

You Look Very Nice by Joe Lycett

As his website says... Joe Lycett is an incredibly right-wing comedian, painter, filmmaker, sculptor, television presenter, poet, gardener, dietician, radio presenter, tuning fork, Fiat Punto manual and queer. His television work has won him a BAFTA, two Royal Television Society Awards plus Rose D’or and Grierson nominations. His work as an artist has been featured in the Royal Academy, Manchester Art Gallery, IKON, Birmingham Midlands Arts Centre and Wolverhampton Art Gallery and his work as a Fiat Punto manual is unrivalled. Joe has been performing stand-up comedy since 2007, embarking on three sell-out UK tours.

This B2 (50x70cm) size print by Joe Lycett is silkscreen printed by Gary Parselle at The Private Press. Featuring 6 colours printed onto our Colorset Pink Ice 350gsm (100% Recycled)  

As Gary says... "there is so much going on in this print - we spent a long time in preproduction getting the layers just right (converting a printing onto a screen print always takes time) - but with lots of careful halftoning I’m super happy with how it turned out. It’s hard to show in the photos but the last colour to be printed was a metallic magenta - it really is quite something and shimmers beautifully in the light. I would let you know where to buy one but they sold out within an hour of going on sale this morning! Thank you Joe it is a joy to work with you!"

An edition of 100, all signed and numbered, which sold out in under an hour!

A triumph and to prove it, here is a picture of Joe and Gary in the studio!

https://joelycett.com/

https://www.theprivatepress.org/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.09.2024

CC4 - Community Clothing

Founded by British Fashion Designer Patrick Grant, Community Clothing is a social enterprise with a simple mission - to make excellent quality affordable clothes for men and women, to create great jobs for skilled workers and by doing this help to restore real pride in Britain’s textile communities. They do this by working with under utilised UK factories during their quiet periods, which is a great concept.

This is Community Clothing's look-book and catalogue CC4 and it is an absolutely superb publication, wonderful art direction, photography and printing. I wrote about the previous publication previously.

The size is 315x210mm, portrait and is a 32pp self cover which flops and rolls really nicely in the hand....

Click on images to enlarge

The publication is printed on our Shiro Echo, White 80gsm which is 100% Recycled and also carries the FSC Recycled classification. 

Shiro Echo is available in two shades; there is a white shade (which is a natural/off white) which is a bit like a newsprint/newspaper shade and a Bright White shade.

The publication is printed offset litho in CMYK throughout. The colour is bright and vibrant and the image reproduction is excellent as I hope you can see - bear in mind it's printed on an 80gsm 100% Recycled!

Below is a detail image which shows the excellent image quality - note the excellent fleshtone reproduction.

Click on images to enlarge

The below spread explains the mission and the locations in the UK where the 28 factories are located.

Design is by Moving Brands. Printing is by Principal Colour. A really superb piece of design and print.

https://communityclothing.co.uk/

https://www.movingbrands.com/

http://www.principalcolour.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.09.2024