Independent Paper Show - Manchester

The Independent
 Paper Show is coming to Manchester! Yes, next week is the first ever Manchester edition of the IPS will be presented at Soho House and all are welcome.

Fenner Paper, together with a whole host of other paper companies will be presenting their ranges and we do hope you will come and see us.

The dates are as follows:

June 9th: 2pm – 6pm + Networking drinks (5pm – 7pm)

June 10th: 12pm – 5pm

Here are pictures from the show in London last year...

Register now... https://papershow.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.06.2026

World Cup 2026

With the World Cup fast approaching, I can reveal our new wall chart for you to follow the fixtures...

World Cup 2026 will be the biggest tournament to date with 48 teams competing in 104 matches, in stadiums across the USA, Canada and Mexico.

Argentina are the defending champions but face stiff competition from a number of teams, including France and Spain. England will head to the tournament under the leadership of Thomas Tuchel and Scotland return to a World Cup for the first time in 28 years.

This is the latest in a series of beautifully designed typographic wallcharts which have all been designed by David Coates, who is an independent designer. My thanks to Dave for making it all happen - a perfect way to combine his love of type and football!

The wall chart shows the entire tournament schedule - and with 48 teams, it's our longest ever - the size is 315mm x 980mm long! To keep it light enough for posting, it is digitally printed on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm.

We have sent out a number of these wallcharts to our football loving design clients, but if you want to make absolutely sure you get a copy, you can email me justin@fennerpaper.co.uk ...as long as you promise to use our papers!

https://davidcoates.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.06.2026

50 Years of Print

Next month there is a fabulous exhibition which is celebrating 50 years of work by our friends at Harvey Lloyd Screenprinters.

The month-long, free exhibition in Newhaven (6th-27th June) celebrates the vitality of the UK graphic arts scene, explored through five decades of screenprinting history drawn from the archive of Harvey Lloyd.

Curated by Owen Gildersleeve, the show brings together leading contemporary figures including Mr Doodle, Mr Bingo, Orla Kiely, Anthony Burrill, Supermundane, Sarah Boris and Seb Lester, alongside many other archive works and newly commissioned limited-edition prints.

Alongside these established names, Grand Matter will introduce a select group of emerging artists, placing new talent in direct dialogue with industry heavyweights and reinforcing Harvey Lloyd’s role in supporting the next generation.

Delivered in collaboration with Look Again, the monthlong exhibition is supported by a live programme of drawing performances, talks and workshops — positioning the project as both a celebration of legacy and a platform for future creative growth.

You can read all about it HERE

...and to top it all, there is an opening night of talks on Saturday 6th June (£10 tickets) with Mr Bingo, Louise Lockhart, Adrian Johnson, Sarah Boris & Tom Pigeon and you can book for that HERE

https://www.lookagainnewhaven.co.uk/fifty-years-of-print

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.05.2026

Today is Earth Day

 Earth Day is an annual event first held on April 22, 1970. It now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries.

What better day to tell you about our new range from FAVINI called Sparto made using Esparto grass, post-consumer waste and bagasse, the by-product of sugar cane processing.

Sparto is Favini’s new eco-friendly paper, made with alternative fibers and without tree cellulose. It takes its name from esparto, a perennial grass that thrives in hot, arid climates and acts as a natural barrier against desertification.

Sparto sustainable paper is perfect for creating luxury packaging, high-quality printing and sustainable design projects. Sparto’s eight colours are inspired by the natural environment that we help to protect with this truly special paper.

Detail images showing the inclusions in the paper:

Sparto is FSC™ certified and made with 100% self-produced hydroelectric energy. It contains esparto fibre, post-consumer recycled material and bagasse, the by-product of sugar cane processing.

Design and art direction of the swatches is by Silk Pearce. If you would like a copy of the Sparto swatch, just ask me for one! Email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.earthday.org/

https://www.favini.com/gs/en/ 

https://www.silkpearce.com/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.04.2026

Some very good news for the paper industry...

 Back to books - Sweden's schools cutting back on digital learning

Sweden is shifting its schools away from screens and back to physical books and paper. The government is making this change to fix falling reading and writing scores. The Scandinavian country is spending over €100 million to buy printed textbooks and is even looking to ban mobile phones in schools and seems in sharp contrast to Denmark's recent dismantling of their postal service Read Here

You can read the BBC article here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly0vk77vdko

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2026

V&A censored catalogues after demands by Chinese printer

Today Printweek reports that a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The Guardian has revealed that the Victoria and Albert Museum agreed to remove images from one of its exhibition catalogues after requests from its Chinese printing contractor.

The museum was asked by C&C Offset Printing to delete a map that did not comply with the Chinese communist party's censorship requirements.

The map, which was intended for the catalogue accompanying the upcoming V&A exhibition Music is Black, depicts a 1930s illustration of British Empire trade routes.

https://www.printweek.com/content/news/va-museum-yields-to-chinese-printer-demands

You can read The Guardian article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/apr/14/v-and-a-censored-catalogues-demands-chinese-printer

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.04.2026

IPS Manchester

The Independent
 Paper Show is coming to Manchester! Yes, this June, the first ever Manchester edition of the IPS will be presented at Soho House and all are welcome.

Fenner Paper, together with a whole host of other paper companies will be presenting their ranges. We do hope you will come and see us.

The dates for your diary are as follows:

June 9th: 2pm – 6pm + Networking drinks (5pm – 7pm)

June 10th: 12pm – 5pm

Register now... https://papershow.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.03.2026

A pivotal year ahead in paper

Towards the end of last year two large paper 'supergroups' in the international arena of paper manufacturers, UPM and Sappi, announced plans to create a new joint venture company that would encompass their European graphic paper operations - 20 paper mills are involved with a combined production capacity of nearly 6 million tonnes per annum.

Is this good news or bad news for the paper industry...?

Below is an excellent article written by Jo Francis at Printweek magazine with the background to the joint venture. You can read all about it here: 
https://www.printweek.com/content/briefing/a-pivotal-year-ahead-in-paper

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.02.2026

Danish postal service to stop delivering letters after 400 years

The first post in 2026 which is really rather sad...

The Danish Post Office (PostNord) has ended postal deliveries on 30 December.

Over the last year they have slowly been removing the postboxes and they have now all been removed. You can read the article here:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/21/denmark-postnord-postal-delivery-letters-society

and watch on the BBC here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls-_j2A1RfA

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.01.2026

Fenner Paper Diary 2026

If you are a user of the Fenner Paper ranges and therefore one of our wonderful customers, you may well have already received one of our wonderful new 2026 diaries...

The cover has been designed by Theo Hersey, graphic artist and letterpress printer based at The Typography Workshop in London.

The 4pp cover is printed on a few of our ranges including Creative Print, Diamond 270gsm, Crush Kiwi 250gsm, Colorset Pineapple 270gsm and Shiro Echo White 250gsm. The 40pp text is printed in one colour, 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.

The text pages of the diary have been designed by long term collaborator and friend David Coates and as in previous years, the diary is 230x152mm, portrait and retains the popular 'month to view' format.

If you are one of our worthy clients (!), you should be receiving one of our diaries in the post. If you want to make sure you are in our address book, drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk. For people who aren't customers, they are available to buy through the St Bride Foundation here:

https://stbridelibrary.bigcartel.com/product/fenner-paper-diary-2026

Posted by Justin Hobson 9.12.2025

Jobs from the past - Number 182

Regular followers of this blog will know that for my first post of every month I try (but not always!) to publish a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by - this project is from 2014

PREEN LINE SS2014

This is the Spring/Summer 2014 look-book for Preen Line, which is the "contemporary line" range with the more economical price tag from London fashion house PREEN.

It's a lovely oversize 333x240mm, portrait, saddle stitched format. It is a 28pp "self cover". This means that it is printed on the same material throughout, so the cover is on the same weight as the text. It works well on this job as it feels really substantial. A big part of that is the format and the fact that it is printed on our Omnia 150gsm, which has a high bulk and therefore you really don't notice that the cover is no heavier ...and, most importantly, the text flows nicely in the hand and lies nice and flat.

As you can see from the images, there is lots of rich colour and blue is prevalent - and it just looks beautiful on the Omnia - just gorgeously even and crisp reproduction. In particular the images with CMYK dark areas - with lots of ink going down, looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours as well and the darker images as well, whilst retaining all the detail.

Design is by Mark and Chris Thomson at Studio Thomson. Photography is by Nick Dorey and the superb print by Push, although sadly (like many printers) they are no longer in operation.

https://www.preen.eu/
https://www.studiothomson.com/

https://www.nickdorey.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.11.2025

London Packaging Week 2025 - don't miss us!

Over ten years ago, Easyfairs launched Packaging Innovations London and Luxury Packaging London, creating a meeting place for packaging designers, technologists and suppliers in the capital. Changed in 2022 to London Packaging Week – This year it is being held at Excel in London and is in a couple of weeks time on 15th and 16th October. It's a great show which brings a sharp focus on packaging development for the capital’s key luxury and FMCG markets.

Although we don't have a stand this year, we will be there together with our suppliers including FAVINI and also Kapag & Oppboga who make the amazing FibreForm® paperboard which we launched in the UK last year:

...as you can see, it can be embossed or debossed to three times it's own thickness without breaking!

Please visit the Favini stand and also the Kapag|Oppboga stand, we hope to see you there! 

https://www.londonpackagingweek.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.10.2025

Colorset has 49 shades

For those of you not familiar with Colorset, it is our range of coloured text and cover papers which is 100% recycled and more competitively priced than some other well known brands of coloured paper!

A few years ago we launched 350gsm, so we now have ALL Colorset shades in 120gsm, 270gsm and 350gsm - all in B1 size (700x1000mm). 

A few years ago we further developed the range with 9 new colours...

...and more recently we added another dozen shades to make 49 shades in total plus white (so it's 50 really!)

The new shades include 7 shades made using Virgin fibre (due to the dye take up) and these are Blush, Warm White, Glacier, Hopsack, Charcoal, Spearmint and Aubergine, all marked with an asterisk in the swatch

...so there you have it, a range with 49 colours including TEN greys!

If you would like the updated swatch, please drop me an email and I'll pop one in the post justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.10.25

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