Growing through the Seasons 2026

The "Growing through the Seasons" calendar, beautifully illustrated by Isla Middleton and written by Bryony Middleton, is a guide for gardeners and vegetable lovers. 

Images kindly supplied by Isla Middleton

This calendar is a celebration of seasonal flowers, fruit and vegetables illustrated with full page original designs.

The calendar has been created to inspire, encourage and teach how to sow, grow and harvest fresh produce straight from the garden. It is 300mm square in size and a month to view format.

It is printed on our PaperWise Natural 130gsm and 295gsm, which is manufactured from 100% agricultural waste - this is the stems and leaves left over the harvest and which is usually left in the field and burnt. You can read all about PaperWise HERE. As you can see from the images PaperWise is a natural shade and is completely unbleached and home compostable too ...a perfect choice for this calendar!

You can see the designs for each month here...

Isla has created this calendar with her sister Bryony Middleton, Head Gardener at Sharpham Trust in Devon and also a Growing Chart will feature at the back, with an overview of the sowing and harvest schedule as you can see here:

The calendar is superbly printed, offset litho by Ashley House Printing in Devon.

I was on holiday a couple of weeks ago and popped in to Halen Môn, the Welsh sea salt manufacturer and saw the calendar for sale in their gift shop!

Strangely enough Halen Môn have appeared on this blog before as the designer of their identity and packaging (Sid Madge) printed a casestudy back in 2011 using our Omnia, which you can read about HERE.

My thanks to Isla for sending one of the calendars and also allowing me to use the images from the website.

The calendar is for sale in many excellent shops and is also available to buy on-line here: https://www.islamiddleton.co.uk/product-page/2026-growing-through-the-seasons-calendar

https://www.islamiddleton.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.08.2025

John Morgan 1973–2025

An announcement from John Morgan Studio...

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of John Morgan, who died on 2 September 2025, in his library, surrounded by his family and his books. He was 52.

John was a devoted husband to Claire and a proud father to Rudy, Francis and Iris. He was the cherished son of Bob and Maureen, and a much-loved brother to Jane.

In 2000 John founded John Morgan studio in London where he developed a widely celebrated body of typographic work that was quietly radical: elegantly simple, powerfully expressive. His creativity also extended to theatre and film, with projects including Blank Dummy and Julie. In 2017 he co-founded the digital type foundry Abyme.

Alongside his practice, John was a dedicated teacher. He lectured at institutions including Central Saint Martins and the University of Reading, where he taught on the MA Book Design course from 2007–2016. Since 2016 he was Professor of Design, Typography and Book Art at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where he established Klasse John Morgan.

Those who knew John remember an uncommon honesty and steadiness. He held his course with strength and humility – ‘so strong and so mild’, as one friend put it. His integrity bred a rare trust, and when making design decisions many colleagues would find themselves asking, ‘What would John do?’ He was a mentor and a friend, connecting people and giving form to words and work for nearly 30 years.

Books were central to John’s life. His own book Usylessly, which explores the non-literary aspects of the 1922 edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses, was published in December 2021. In 2025 he set up the publishing imprint Ten Thousand Angels Press. Its first title, Usylessly (edition two), will be published later this year, followed by Baskerville’s Teardrop Explodes: A Selection of Books as Muses, completed shortly before he died.

A funeral will take place in John’s Oxfordshire village on 11 September 2025. On that day, we invite those who knew and loved him to take a moment to reflect and remember his life.

Messages of condolence and support for John’s family can be sent to info@morganstudio.co.uk

John Morgan

6 January 1973–2 September 2025

John Morgan studio

info@morganstudio.co.uk

morganstudio.co.uk

==========================================

This is such sad news. My contact with John was infrequent but always a pleasure. He was always considered, thoughtful and respectful of me as a supplier. My condolences to his family, friends and the studio.

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.09.2025

DO Radio

The "DO" lectures is an organisation started by David Hieatt one of the founders of howies. The idea is to get together people who are real "doers" to do lectures and make them as widely available as possible. Now they have launched Do Radio to broadcast new and the previously recorded lectures.

My first post of the month is to look back at work from previous years, so what better time to revisit this wonderful promotional mailer produced for the Do Lectures in 2009. It was designed by the howies in house team and was specified on Offenbach Bible 60gsm. It's A2 folding down to A7.

 

The size is A2 (420x594mm) folding down to A7 (105 x 74mm)

Claire Margetts (administrator at the do lectures) was very grateful as I put them in contact with the printer who would print on Offenbach Bible and said I was a real "doer" 

The job was printed in 2 colours offset Litho by Principal Colour. It was machine folded and then hand finished. http://www.principalcolour.co.uk/

Above are some previous howies catalogues that we have supplied Colorset (100% recycled) for the covers. Designed by Nick Hand

https://thedolectures.com/

https://thedolectures.com/do-radio/

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.09.2025

St Bride Conference 2025

Fenner Paper is pleased to again be one of the sponsors of the annual St Bride conference which is being held this year on Saturday 18th October.

“Doing the work” is more than a phrase – it’s a call to action. In recent years, it has come to embody the responsibility we all share to educate ourselves, to challenge inequality, and to act with intention in building a more just society. For marginalised creatives, however, “doing the work” has always meant something more. It is the ongoing labour of breaking barriers, of creating work that is both excellent and deeply authentic, of carving out space in an industry that too often resists change. 

Doing the Work at St Bride Foundation is a participatory conference dedicated to recognising and amplifying those voices. Through talks, discussions, and a collaborative workshop, we will: 

• Celebrate the creative brilliance of marginalised designers. 

• Confront the realities of racism and exclusion in the design industry. 

• Explore pathways to build an inclusive, equitable future for all. 

The day will culminate in a collective act of creation: together with our facilitators and speakers, participants will workshop ideas into a shared manifesto. Printed at St Bride Foundation’s letterpress workshop at a later date, this manifesto will stand as a permanent record of our conversations and commitments – a tool for creatives and organisations to adopt, promote, and live by. 

This is an invitation to listen, to reflect, to act – and to do the work, together. 

Speakers: Carolyne Hill, Harkiran Kalsi, Kingsley Nebechi, Ricardo Eversely, Jodi Hunt. 

Panel discussion facilitated by The Unimistakables 

Event curated by Greg Bunbury 

Conference illustrator: Lana Lê

You can book HERE. So why don't you get those little grey cells moving and sign up! NOW

https://sbf.org.uk/whats-on/view/doing-the-work/

Posted by Justin Hobson 29th August 2025

Joe Caroff RIP

Joe Caroff died on August 17, just a day short of turning 104 years old. He was an American graphic designer known for film posters and corporate design work and worked on over 300 films. Caroff created the 007 pistol logo for the James Bond movie franchise for which he was allegedly paid only $300. Initially intended for use on film studio letterheads, it went on to become an instantly recognisable piece of branding for the movie franchise. You can read his New York Times obituary here, however even more interesting is an excellent article written by Steven Heller for PRINT magazine in 2021, titled The Most Prolific Designer You’ve Never Heard Of

...and what better time to review these superb invitations produced for Skyfall...

SKYFALL 2012

The James Bond franchise is a global phenomenon and one which over the years has made those involved in the production and marketing a lot of money. However many people may not remember that due to the recession, Bond film number 23 (as Skyfall was then known) was put on hold in 2010 due to lack of cash. Having originally meant to be released in 2011, it was eventually released in October 2012.

Film Premieres of this scale demand lavish and expensive invitations and collateral. In quality terms they must live up to and possibly exceed, the expectations of the forthcoming film.

Below is a small 4pp wallet (with pocket) which is 180mmx107mm, printed offset litho in CMYK plus a gold special colour on Omnia 280gsm with the ticket printed CMYK and hot foil blocked in metallic gold foil on Omnia 280gsm duplexed to 560gsm.  

Click on images to enlarge

The ticket is also hot foil blocked on the reverse.

The launch of this type of film requires several events and these represent tickets for the screenings at The Royal Albert Hall, the Odeon Leicester Square and the after show party at the Tate. As you will notice from the reverse of the wallet (below) the litho printed gold actually looks gold! ..this is a feature of Omnia and where is scores over ordinary uncoated papers.

Below is the ticket for the Odeon Leicester Square which is 99x210mm, Landscape.

The ticket is printed in CMYK plus gloss black foil, which you can hopefully see in the picture below.

This ticket which is also printed on Omnia 280gsm is mounted on our Sumo 2000microns which makes the invitation 2.5mm thick!

Printing is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and they made a superb job of it - colour reproduction and solids are superb - the hot foil blocking is perfectly executed (Identity are one of the few printers to have hot foil blocking facilities 'in-house')

https://www.identityprint.co.uk/
https://www.007.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.08.2025

London Design Festival 2025

The London Design Festival was launched by Sir John Sorrell CBE and Ben Evans CBE in 2003. Building on London’s existing design activity, their concept was to create an annual event that would promote the city’s creativity, drawing in the country’s greatest thinkers, practitioners, retailers and educators to a deliver an unmissable celebration of design. The launch of the first Festival took place at Bloomberg on 25 March 2003, with a show of support from design, education, government and London organisations. 22 years later, this vision remains ever strong.

In 2019, the Festival welcomed a record-breaking 600,000 individual visitors from over 75 countries. Celebrating its 22nd anniversary in 2024, London Design Festival is now well into a new decade, celebrating how it has played a key role in the growth of the design industry, bolstering London’s position as a global destination for business, culture and tourism, and contributed to the UK’s reputation as a creative powerhouse. As one of the world’s leading design events, the Festival has also served as the blueprint for design weeks and festivals globally and continues to be a key moment on the cultural calendar.

This year, the London Design Festival 2025 is in it's 23rd year and will take place in exactly one month on 13–21 September 2025.

https://londondesignfestival.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.08.2025

Portraits of the Hibakusha

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. Today marks the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the first Atom bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing, which took place in 1945 was to bring a speedy end to the second world war against Japan. The anniversary is remembered through ceremonies, and leaders from Japan and around the world have used the occasion to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace.

It reminded me of this beautiful project from 2010 for an exhibition in London held on the 65th anniversary... (my apologies for the poor images - it is hard to photograph this piece well!)

THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha

THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha - was an exhibition which ran from the 5th August- 8th October at the Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2010.

The subject of the exhibitions is as follows: At 00.15am on the 6th August 2010 in London it will be 08.15am in Hiroshima and it will have been 65 years since ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima by the USA’s B-29 bomber ‘Enola Gay’. The exhibition of the 65 Hibakusha portrait paintings will last for 65 days, one for each year since the bombs were dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each painting will be accompanied by a detailed description of each subject’s haunting recollection of exactly how they came to survive and be found after the bombing.

Hibakusha are survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese word translates literally to “bomb affected people”. There are no names on any of the Hibakusha Portraits as is the tradition in Japan all are ‘subjects’ and always remain unnamed.

This beautiful poster/invitation/promotional piece was designed by Leah Harrison Bailey and Sara Carneholm at their studio called Happily Ever After, which sadly they disbanded in around 2014. 

Below is the finished (folded up) piece which is A5 size:

- which then folds out like so...

To reveal the final piece...

The open size is 592x420mm. The job is printed on our beatifully thin and lightweight Offenbach Bible in 60gsm. It was printed and finished by Pureprint, who have produced this really well - not only the print but the very tricksy folding!

...and thanks to Leah and Sara for sending it to me and for the lovely note - yes, it certainly is a blogworthy piece! in fact, so good it's been on twice now!

https://www.soas.ac.uk/
https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.08.2025