Wednesday 23 February 2022

ARKET

ARKET is a modern-day market offering essential products for men, women, children and the home. ARKET’s mission is to democratise quality through widely accessible, well-made, durable products, designed to be used and loved for a long time. ARKET opened its first store on Regent Street, London and this is the launch invitation...
Size of the invitation is 148x105mm, which is concertina folded out to a finished size of 592x420mm. Below is a birds eye view...
Click on images to enlarge
The invitation is printed offset litho on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm ...and it looks and feels absolutely superb - it flops and folds in a delightful way when handling as I hope these images demonstrate. The above image shows the way it concertina's from top to bottom.
First fold, which concertina's out to 148x420mm
Fully unfolded to form a 32pp broadsheet...
The invitation is printed in just black, offset litho on one side only, although you might just be able to see ARKET as a shadow in the top quarter, which I hope you will be able to see better in the pictures below...
Click on images to enlarge
It is a very subtle effect, so how is it created? …the white letters are silkscreen printed by K2 Screen. Mathias Clottu worked with Mark Jenkins at K2 to create a bespoke white colour to match the tone of Offenbach Bible -  a pure white silkscreen would have been too visible. The below image shows the silkscreened reverse.
The below image shows how it looks with light behind it, although it was the subtlety of the matching white shade that was required and which works so beautifully on the finished piece...
Design is by Mathias Clottu Studio. Litho printing is by Xtraprint, silkscreen is by K2 Screen and it was concertina folded by ABS Finishers.

https://www.arket.com/
https://hmgroup.com/brands/arket.html
https://www.mathiasclottu.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 23.02.2022

Thursday 17 February 2022

Private View Invitation - John Eskenazi

John Eskenazi is one of the most internationally respected dealers in Indian, Gandharan, Himalayan and South-east Asian works of art. He is also a specialist in collectors' carpets and textiles.

This is the invitation to view the latest acquisitions.
Click on images to enlarge
The invitations are A5, portrait and are particularly thick and prestigious having been mounted onto our Construction Blackstone 1500microns, making the total thickness nearly 2mm.
The invitations have been printed on an HP Indigo digital press and this is interesting as it's the first time that I have seen a genuine duotone (just two colours) printed on an HP Indigo, rather than out of four colours
Design and Art Direction is by Ornan Rotem at Sylph Editions.

Printing and the terrific finishing - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics, based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

https://john-eskenazi.com/
http://www.sylpheditions.com/
www.zonegraphics.co.uk
Posted by Justin Hobson 17.02.2022

Monday 14 February 2022

Happy Valentines Day!

What better day than to look at this superbly produced book, titled 'Arrows of Love'...  This superb book was originally published to accompany the Quentin Blake exhibition titled Arrows of Love which took place in 2018 at the House of Illustration. This was an exhibition of Quentin Blake’s rarely-seen nudes consisting of 18 exuberant pencil drawings depicting women avoiding or embracing Cupid’s arrow. The original works are pencil on paper and were drawn circa 1974.

Having opened on Valentine’s Day, this exhibition reveals Quentin Blake's personal reflections on the joy, folly and sorrow of love with his characteristic humour. You can read about the exhibition here.
The size of the book is 265x220mm, portrait and comprises of 64pp plus endpapers. The text pages are printed on our Omnia, Natural 120gsm which gives the book a 'toned' look but which sympathetically reproduces the pencil illustrations.

The books starts with arrows...
Click on images to enlarge
Click on images to enlarge

Click on images to enlarge

Birds eye view showing the sewn sections and the 'quarter bound' binding. Spine is 7mm
Detail showing reproduction of the pencil illustration....
This is a beautifully produced publication, which you can buy here. Printing is by Jigsaw Colour, who sadly are no longer trading but Paul Martin handled the project, who is now at Identity Printers.

https://www.quentinblake.com/
http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home
Posted by Justin Hobson 14.02.2022

Thursday 10 February 2022

Assila Hotel

Offering a rooftop outdoor pool and spa center, the Assila Hotel, part of the Rocco Forte hotel group, is located in Jeddah in the Makkah Al Mukarramah province.

The brochure uses the Rocco Forte branding by Pentagram.  The format is A5 (210x148mm) portrait and is saddle stitched. The 8pp cover is printed and hot foil blocked on Dali, Perla 200gsm and the 36pp text is printed on our Marazion Ultra 135gsm.
Click on images to enlarge
Below shows a detail image of the 8pp cover showing the full width flaps.
The book is written and produced entirely in arabic and therefore it opens at what we in the west consider to be the back, so the image below shows the inside front spread.
The material used for the cover is our Dali range, which 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.
The 36pp text is printed offset litho on our Marazion Ultra 135gsm, chosen because of it's dead matt flatness which would reproduce the interior images well without a glossiness which would detract from the cool look and feel of the hotel.
Inside back cover with cover flap opened...
Below image showing that it sits nice and flat without 'gaping' in the centre of the spine.
The excellent print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin Colournet, based in London.

https://www.roccofortehotels.com/hotels-and-resorts/assila-hotel/
https://www.pentagram.com/
https://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 10.02.2022

Wednesday 2 February 2022

Jobs from the past - Number 147

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 and this one is from 2015...

Thomas Tait SS15 Invitation

This is the invitation to the Thomas Tait preview show for his Spring|Summer 2015 collection held in London this September. The previous year he won the inaugural LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers. Thomas Tait is originally from Montreal but now lives and works in London and graduated from the Central Saint Martins Womenswear MA course.

For this show, he has collaborated with Paris based visual artist Georges Rousse, who uses derelict buildings as his medium and paints on walls. Working with the artist, Thomas Tait has transformed his show into a living art space and this is reflected in this beautifully produced invitation.
The invitation itself is actually a 12pp loose bound (no binding) production. Size is 270 x 180mm and is printed on our Omnia 200gsm ...and it looks and feels just beautiful. It perfectly shows the images of the derelict spaces - lots of detail and excellent reproduction and great solids - no patchiness or mottle. It is totally in sympathy with the rough concrete interiors - tactile and engaging.
Centre spread.
The images above and below show how it is unbound and how well it works - it holds together beautifully ...and that is because it is the correct choice of weight of material - Omnia is very bulky and 200gsm works perfectly. If it were on the 280 or 320gsm it would be far too 'clunky' and would not hold itself together as a single piece of literature.
Below image showing the outside back cover where the event details are printed on the solid yellow.
You can read more about the event and collection here:

Field Projects, a London based studio, is responsible for the superb art direction and design. Creative Director on the project is Tom Watt. Unfortunately I don't know who the photographer is because they also deserve a credit!

Print production is by FE Burman, who are based is south London and they have made an excellent job printing on the Omnia.

https://www.thomastait.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 02.02.2022