Jobs from the past - Number 79

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...

Rupert Sanderson 2002 Preview Invitations

Shoe designer Rupert Sanderson founded his company after a disastrous career (his words) in advertising and design. He undertook a two year course at the Cordwainers College in East London learning to design and make shoes. After college he was working in Italy firstly for Sergio Rossi and then Bruno Magli. Rupert returned to London and founded his own company in 2001. He now has a store in London as well as Hong Kong and a global following.

This is one of the very first Rupert Sanderson invitations produced in 2001 for the preview of his 2002 Spring/Summer collection.

The invitation is a folded down shoe cutting pattern, which is presented in this translucent, pale blue pocket which is 217x156mm. It has been made to size and incorporates a thumb cut in the top, allowing the invitation to be pulled out. The pocket is made from a range called Voile de Papier Acqua 120gsm, which sadly has since been discontinued by the mill.

 The invitation itself is a 16pp concertina folded invitation - finished size of A5 (210x148mm).

The below image shows the invitation folded out to it's full extent - click on the image to bring it up to a reasonable size.


Click images to enlarge

It is printed offset litho in just one colour - a very pale blue, which it's why it is hard to see - but it's worth enlarging the images here, as it is a wonderfully clever and skilfully executed piece of design for print.

The paper used is our Offenbach Bible 50gsm, which gives a sylph like quality to the invitation,  whilst mimicking the material used for a pattern guide.

Design of the Rupert Sanderson identity was by Johnson Banks and this invitation followed shortly after, also by JB. Creative director is Michael Johnson, designer on this project was Luke Gifford, working with typographer Michael Pratley. Printing and make up of the pockets was by Gavin Martin Colournet.

Now going back to the bit at the beginning of this post where Rupert Sanderson is reported as saying that he had a 'disastrous career' in advertising. Well, back in 1990, I was one of the clients that he was looking after! He was a 'suit' (account handler) at Smith & Milton when they were in Chelsea and I thought he was actually pretty good - but I guess it's just as well he didn't think so, otherwise he wouldn't now be creating these lovely shoes. Congratulations on your success Rupert.

http://www.rupertsanderson.com/eu/
http://www.johnsonbanks.co.uk/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.05.2016