Friday 27 December 2019

Johnson Banks Christmas

Of the wide variety of Christmas cards I received, this one from Johnson Banks, really stands out. The size of the card is A5 (148x210mm) and is very simply printed and produced, but the content is wonderful, made up using a series of 'tick boxes' as I hope you will be able to see from the images below...
The card is made using our Colorset 100% Recycled 350gsm, duplexed - so it is Colorset White on one side and Colorset Nero on the reverse.
Click on images to enlarge
The card is printed (before duplexing) by Gavin Martin Colournet using their HP Indigo digital press which works brilliantly on the white ink on the black.

Below shows the 700gsm thickness and the duplexed black and white shades...
www.johnsonbanks.co.uk
www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk
Posted by Justin Hobson 27.12.2019

Monday 23 December 2019

Monocle Christmas Catalogue

Monocle is a premium media brand with print, audio and online elements, not to mention their ever expanding retail network and on-line business. The Monocle Shop is at street level in six cities - London, Zurich, Merano, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Toronto. The shop keeps everything from luggage and clothes to stationery and furniture and this is their Christmas catalogue...

The finished size is 216x102mm, portrait and is a 16pp folded format folding out to a flat size of 405x432mm.
The above folds out to reveal the first spread below...
Click on images to enlarge
...and then folding out again, left and right.
and then folding up to reveal the full spread below.
The below image shows both sides.
The whole publication is all printed offset litho on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm ...and it looks and feels absolutely gorgeous - it flops and folds in a delightful way when handling the publication as I hope these images demonstrate. The below image shows the way it folds.
Click on images to enlarge
Print quality is superb as I hope the image below demonstrates, fleshtone reproduction is excellent.
Design is by the team at Monocle. The publication is printed offset litho, CMYK throughout. The excellent print is by Park Communications, who are based in East London.

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.12.2019

Thursday 19 December 2019

V&A Invitation - Christian Dior

Spanning 1947 to the present day, this exhibition traced the history and impact of one of the 20th century's most influential couturiers, exploring the enduring influence of the fashion house, and Dior's relationship with Britain. The exhibition presented over 200 rare Haute Couture garments drawn from the V&A's couture collection and the extensive Dior Archives alongside accessories, fashion photography, film, vintage perfume, original make-up, illustrations, magazines, and Christian Dior’s personal possessions. The exhibition ran from February to 1 September this year and was a total sell out.
This is the private view invitation for the launch party on 30th January this year...
Click on images to enlarge
The format is an 4½pp concertina folded invite. The size is 183 x 375mm folding to a finished size of 183x150mm with a 75mm flap, which I hope you can see from the birsdeye view above. Having the half page flap means that on the front, you have coated and uncoated meeting together which is a wonderful juxtaposition. The below image shows both sides of the invitation...
Hopefully you'll be able to see from the image above that one side is very colourful and glossy and the other side is uncoated with mono images and hot foil blocked in silver. It is printed on Astralux [1 sided] 300gsm and is finished with gloss film lamination - this might sound unnecessary,but it is what gives the super high gloss lustre, which only lamination on top of a cast coated paper can give you. The below detail image shows the gloss...
...and of course, it is also beautifully creased with a matrix crease:
The invitation is designed by the in-house design team. Print and hot foiling is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood with Paul Martin handling the project.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/dior-designer-of-dreams
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/
http://www.favini.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 19.12.2019

Monday 16 December 2019

Fenner Paper 2020 Diary

If you are a wonderful customer and therefore a deserving user of our papers! ... you will be receiving your new 2020 diary in the post this 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 just one colour - silver pantone colours 877 on three shades of Colorset 100% Recycled 270gsm - Nero, Solar and Mango - which one will you get???
This year we have collaborated with international typeface designers Dalton Maag who have created the cover. The typeface chosen is Calmetta and using 'glyphs' of 0 and 2 in different weights, they have created the cover image, which is stunning. My thanks to the wonderful team at the London studio of Dalton Maag, who were a pleasure to work with.

The 40pp text is set in Calmetta Light and 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.
Tucked into your diary is also a handy Stardream desk calendar to remind you that the Stardream range of pearlescent and metallic papers from Cordenons in 32 shades is available through Fenner Paper...
https://www.daltonmaag.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 16.12.2019

Thursday 12 December 2019

Christmas time on Dali...

James Ellis are a greeting card publisher who have been publishing their own ranges of cards since 1997. Based in Bristol, they actually print and make all their cards in the UK (so no horrible carbon footprint to China!). You'll find their ranges of cards in Paperchase, Waitrose, Harrods and John Lewis and all good card shops!
 
They’ve been manufacturing their 'shakies' cards since 2003 and they have undergone quite a few style changes, but the glitter and confetti (biodegradeable glitter and confetti, of course) shaking around within the card idea has more or less remained the same.
The latest change  has been to change the board which form the cards and the window to our Dali range. If you aren't familiar with the Dali range, it is a 'felt-marked' paper with a linear effect and a natural, tactile feel. If you click on the image below, you will be able to see the texture in the paper.
Click on image to enlarge
Dali is available in a range of shades and these Christmas cards are produced using Dali, Candido (white) and Dali Rosso (red) 285gsm.
 
The other thing that is new is that this range is now bagless - meaning that they don't now come in a cellophane bag, reducing plastic waste. The cards are held together with peelable labels, as you can see in the images below...
Below is a detail image showing the way the label holds the envelope together...
Thanks to James Ellis for sharing these samples with me and a magical Christmas to all!

https://www.jamesellis.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 12.12.2019

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

Friday 6 December 2019

Harvey Lloyd - new prints, new shop...

Harvey Lloyd Screenprint is a silkscreen print studio based in the South East of England and their work has appeared on this blog many times over the years. Established 40 years ago, they produce work for some of the best names in the industry, Anthony Burrill, Mr Bingo, Spin Design, Pentagram, Tom Pigeon, Morag Myerscough, Adrian Johnson to name a few. Harvey Lloyd have gained a reputation for having artists at their studio (often with film crews) and working together to produce their images. By working interactively, they find different techniques which are developed collaboratively.

...and now, for the first time, Harvey Lloyd Screenprint have produced a series of their own prints:
Bale (pictured above and below) is produced in 3 colour ways - Fluorescent Pink, Green and yellow. The finished size is 600mm x 600mm.
The series Connect, Metropolis and Pyramid are all 400mm square
Connect
Metropolis
Pyramid
Spheres and Weave are A2 size and printed using 3 colours using an unusual technique- getting away from digital technology and back to analogue, a technique which Steve Fachiri and Tracey Day at Harvey Lloyd don't want to reveal, save telling me that the screens were created using torn paper for the stencils.
Spheres
Weave
...and of course I should have mentioned that they are all printed on our wonderful Matrisse 250gsm, which is an uncoated, white board range with a high bulk (330microns) is FSC certified and Acid Free.

These beautiful prints are available directly from their online shop here:
Posted by Justin Hobson 06.12.2019

Wednesday 4 December 2019

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