Set in Stone

Yesterday evening I was at the St Brides Foundation in London for the launch of a wonderful notebook titled "Set in Stone". The project was a collaboration between design agency Carter Wong, printer Boss Print and us! This is the fifth notebook in the series, each one with a different and equally fascinating subject!

This edition showcases the fascinating examples of Jurassic fossils which can be seen all across London and its buildings.

The evening started with lashings of beer and wine and the opportunity to look at the exhibition showing the concept and the images that are the subject of the book.

There was then an introduction to the project by Sarah Turner, Managing Director of Carter Wong followed by a short presentation by Fenton Smith from Boss Print. There were over 100 people who attended....

...and here is the actual notebook that was the centre of attention.

The wonderfully debossed cover is on a vinyl based cover material. Flexible, durable and just right for a notebook.

...a birds eye view showing the binding and the pages with the images of the tiles printed, which are "french folded"

The below image shows a spread of the notebook with the image page on the left, showing the building and on the reverse side of the French folded image sections is an image of the stone/concrete that includes the fossils.

- what you cannot see and is impossible to show/photograph is the way that all the fossils are embellished, either with the most superb embossing, so they are actually in relief - a truly amazing effect or the most amazing foiling...

Above is the most amazing relief deboss and below is incredible foiling, which just brings the image alive...

The paper used in the books is our Redeem 100% Recycled 80gsm for the text pages and Omnia 120gsm for the fossil pages. The text pages printed on the Redeem are all printed with a solid tint which increases in tint as it goes through the book, representing the strata of rock.

Omnia is the perfect material to use for the Text pages as it's dead flat mattness gives incredible tactility to the fossil images, whilst still reproducing the images of the buildings superbly.

Printing is all offset litho. Embossing and foiling is all by Boss print and it is all to an exceptionally high standard.

 

A big thank you to Carter Wong, Boss Print and of course, our friends at the St Brides Foundation who made the event special as always.

http://www.carterwongdesign.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/
http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson on 23.05.2019 

To The Trains

Yesterday evening I was at the St Brides Foundation in London for the launch of a wonderful notebook titled "To the Trains". The project was a collaboration between design agency Carter Wong, printer Boss Print and us! This is the fourth notebook in the series, each one with a different and equally fascinating subject!

This edition showcases the tiles on display throughout the London underground system and the rich history that accompanies them.

The evening started with lashings of beer and wine and the opportunity to look at the images that are the subject of the book taken by photographer Josh Exell.

There was then an introduction to the project by Sarah Turner, Managing Director of Carter Wong followed by a short presentation of the influence of Leslie Green, who was appointed in 1903 to design over 50 stations for the underground and introduced a wayfinding system using symbols set in tiles. As you can see, there were over 150 people who attended....

The splendour of Green's original designs continues to excite and the tile work has been joined in more recent times, as refurbishment takes place, by prestigious artists and designers such as Abram Games, Alan Fletcher, Nicholas Munro and Eduardo Paolozzi.

...and here is the actual notebook that was the centre of attention. 

The wonderfully debossed cover is on a vinyl based cover material. Flexible, durable and just right for a notebook. There are a number of different cover/colour combinations available, this is the deep, burgundy red. Below shows the opening spread...

...a birds eye view showing the binding and the pages with the images of the tiles printed, which are "french folded"

The below image shows a spread of the notebook with the image page on the right - what you cannot see and is impossible to show/photograph is that the tiles are all beautifully and superbly embossed, so they are actually in relief - a truly amazing effect.

...I hope the image below shows just how three dimensional the result is.

Below are the tiles by Abram Games (Stockwell, 1969) where I hope you can see the french folding and the embossing.

As you can see from the above image, the book lies nice and flat - because it has been sewn and cold glued, so it lays beautifully flat. The paper used in the books is our Redeem 100% Recycled 80gsm for the text pages and our new Gardapat 13, Bianka 135gsm for the tile pages.

Printing is all offset litho. Embossing, binding and finishing is all by Boss print and it is all to an exceptionally high standard.

I had a small display, showing our ranges and printed examples and was kept busy all evening! Below I'm talking to Jason Maclaren from Cantate Communications.

A big thank you to Carter Wong, Boss Print and of course, our friends at the St Brides Foundation who made the event special as always.

http://www.carterwongdesign.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/
http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson on 29.11.2017

St Bride Student lecture

Yesterday, I attended a lecture day at St Bride's put on for students which was funded by the Wynkyn de Worde Society Charitable Trust. The speakers at the event were Alistair Hall (from We Made This), Sharon King-Chai (an author-illustrator and book designer) and Chris Bounds (from Carter Wong design). There were around a hundred students from universities around the country. I spoke to some from Kingston, University of the Creative Arts and University of Reading.

Alistair Hall gave a special insight into the way that the Ministry of Stories initiative started followed with an amusing set of anecdotes about the Hoxton Street Monster Supplies - truly this is an example of where design has helped changed people's lives for the better - over a thousand children helped with writing every year.  

Sharon King-Chai spoke about her career, from her arrival in the UK to getting work experience, her work designing album covers and her transition into the world of publishing. One slide in particular struck a note with me ...be nice

Doesn't matter who you are - being nice is the right thing. Even when you have to say NO, you can still do it nicely.

I took a few printed examples to show, to inspire students about the quality print work that is out there and what can be achieved.

It was a very interesting day and I'm sure the students that were there found it inspiring and useful. The print workshop was also open which gave people the opportunity to print some letterpress keepsakes to take home.

If you would like to stir the greymatter, how about going to the Type Tuesday event this evening, run by Eye magazine? The archive evening is hosted by Paul Barnes and there are half a dozen speakers talking about their favourite items found in St Brides. You can read about it here: http://www.eyemagazine.com/blog/post/type-tuesday-archive-night-with-paul-barnes and you can buy tickets from Eventbrite - only £12.00. Go on, get out and feed the brain!

http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.03.2016

Go and hear about how it's done...

Regular followers of the blog know that I often write about talks or lectures that I think might be an interest to readers of this blog and this is just one of those events...

Next Tuesday (21st April) there is a talk being given by designers Carter Wong. The consultancy was founded by two RCA graduates, Phil Carter and Phil Wong in 1984 and over the last thirty years they have produced a considerable body of work. Two of my favourites is their internationally recognised Heartbrand ice cream identity:

...and their work for Howies

But these are just two projects from their extensive portfolio.

So, if you want to hear about the ups and downs of a design business over the last thirty years and pick up some interesting and useful pointers - GET A TICKET. Don't delay.

The talk is titled '60 minutes in 29' and is next Tuesday 21st April and there are still tickets available on Evenbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/60-minutes-at-29-an-evening-with-carter-wong-design-tickets-16157295907

Tickets are only £15 (concessions available). The talk is being held in the Bridewell Hall at the St Bride Foundation in London EC4 on Tuesday 21st April starting at 7pm. The speakers are Phil Carter, Helena Bland, Chris Bounds, Ian Froome, Martyn Garrod and Nicola Taylor

http://www.sbf.org.uk/events/60-minutes-at-29
http://www.sbf.org.uk/
www.carterwongdesign.com

...interestingly I've been a paper merchant for nearly 30 years and I've never knowingly supplied paper for a Carter Wong project in all that time ...and I still think it's worth you going to hear their talk!

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2015