The Flacks Family Collection

On 16 September last year, a selection of 46 lots from the collection of Marcus and Debby Flacks were auctioned at Christie's in New York.

Marcus Flacks is one of the pre-eminent sources for classical Chinese furniture, rare scholar’s objects and contemporary Asian paintings. Among the highlights are an extremely rare pair of 17th century huanghuali and spotted bamboo scholar’s cabinets, perhaps the only known pair in existence.

This is the auction catalogue produced by the Flacks family and Christie's for the sale. Size is 210x268mm, portrait.

The publication has 148pp text pages printed on Neptune Unique SoftWhite 135gsm (a bespoke weight). The cover is printed on Dali Neve 320gsm, with 133mm flaps on the inside front and back covers.

An important feature that makes all the difference to this publication is the binding. It is a square backed limp bound book (spine is 13mm) but the binding type that is used is called OTASTAR. This is a method of bookbinding that offers an elegant binding solution with advantages over conventional soft cover binding. One of the main advantages is that it lays flatter than a conventional section sewn book. It mimics the construction of a case bound book, so the spine of the text is free from the cover (see image below). It is this that results in the text and whole book laying flatter.

The publication is printed in CMYK throughout and the imagery is truly striking. The Neptune Unique SoftWhite used for the text is an uncoated off-white, smooth (yet tactile) text and cover paper - the printed result is simply fantastic.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is the pair of 17th century huanghuali and spotted bamboo scholar’s cabinets. These are possibly the only pair in existence.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is Liu Dan’s Far-off Journey, painted in 2006 for Marcus Flacks.

Click on images to enlarge

The below images show the detail for the inside of the cover, printed in mono, showing the detail of the spotted bamboo.

Below is a detail of the outside front cover printed on Dali which is a felt-marked paper with a linear effect and a natural, tactile feel. The cover is printed CMYK and the title is hot foil blocked in metallic gloss foil. If you click on the image, you will be able to see the texture in the paper and the superb foiling...

Click on images to enlarge

The book is published by Sylph Editions. Design is by Ornan Rotem and production is by Num Stibbe. The superb printing is offset litho by Robstolk in Holland. The printed result on this uncoated substrate is simply superb, which combined with the superlative binding makes this a piece of print that is seriously noteworthy.

www.christies.com
http://www.mdflacks.com/
http://www.sylpheditions.com/
http://www.robstolk.nl/drukwerk/contact/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.01.2017

Graphic Masterworks

Graphic Masterworks: A Century of Design is a landmark exhibition held at Christie's in London of highlights from the archive of poster collector and connoisseur, Martijn Le Coultre. Exploring developments in graphic design between 1894 and 1988, it features artists selected for their revolutionary use of typography, layout, production and colour, and for their influence and synthesis with avant-garde movements such as De Stijl, Bauhaus, Constructivism and Expressionism. 

 

This is the beautifully produced private view invitation which features a section of a lithograph by Joost Schmidt from 1923. Size is A5, portrait and is a single card (2pp) made by printing and then duplexing our Omnia 320gsm  to make 640gsm - which is 900micron thick - a truly substantial invitation! The front of the invitation is printed CMYK. 

Another point to mention about the front of the invite is that solid area printed red is over-printed with a gloss UV varnish. (...just worth pointing out that Omnia is one of the very few papers with an uncoated look and feel that you can successfully UV varnish on to with one pass and it looks excellent). The reverse of the invitation is printed in CMYK also:

This invitation is about the short educational course run by Christie's Education. The auction itself was held on October 2nd.

 

Design is by the in house team at Christie's. The superb print, varnishing and duplex finishing is by Identity, based in Paddock Wood, Kent.

 

A truly excellent example of a beautifully designed and executed invitation.

www.christies.com

www.christies.edu

http://www.identityprint.co.uk/10



Posted by Justin Hobson 17.10.2013

Out of the Ordinary

Out of the Ordinary is a one-off sale at Christie’s South Kensington that was held on the 5th September. Each lot has been selected as either visually striking or with an intriguing story to tell. Unusually for an auction of this type there was an extended viewing period from 5th August such was the diversity of the lots.£1,000 to £200,000

Spanning all eras from the prehistoric natural world to the surreal realm of science fiction, the intriguing items are a juxtaposition of such diverse lots as a Triceratops skull with a Rolls Royce turbine fan to  Cygan, a giant robot made in 1957, a set of eight of Francis Bacon’s paint brushes and an enormous caviar dish, reputed to be the largest in the world.

 

This is the beautifully produced private view invitation which features a collection of mid Victorian, scientific equipment (condensing lenses). The size of the invite is A5 portrait, printed CMYK, offset litho on the front of the invitation plus a double hit Gloss UV varnish positioned over the round lenses - very effective. The richness of the gold has been achieved out of CMYK without metallic integration. 



The reverse of invite (below) is also printed CMYK with the addition of hot foil blocking in vibrant green foil for the words "Out of".

In order to make this invitation feel somewhat "Out of the Ordinary", the invitation is triplexed - three layers of board making a "sandwich". Colorset White 350gsm has been used for the outer board and the "jam" in the sandwich is Colorset Lime 350gsm, which compliments the green foil on the reverse. A total of 1050gsm (plus a bit of glue)

Design is by the in house team at Christie's. The superb print, varnishing and triplex finishing is by Identity, based in Paddock Wood, Kent. A truly excellent example of a beautifully finished piece of print. Nobody receiving this invitation would be disappointed!

www.christies.com

http://www.christies.com/about/press-center/releases/pressrelease.aspx?pressreleaseid=6579



http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.09.2013