LCBA Identity

The new type-led identity for the London Centre for Book Arts (LCBA) is by Studio Bergini which is run by Francesco Corsini and Kristian Hjorth Berge. The striking new identity makes excellent use of our Colorset range of 100% Recycled papers...

The gift cards (below) are hot foil blocked in-house at the LCBA using Colorset 270gsm in Pink Ice, Evergreen and Mango (in the middle!) and are triplexed.

There are also bookmarks and a whole host of other collateral...

Typefaces are Original Sans and Caslon Ionic, both from Commercial Classics. All production is 'in-house' at the LCBA.

Many thanks to Studio Bergini for the images. In a recent email with Fran, he reminded me that he was at a talk I gave at CSM back in 2014. He found my talk about different materials and printing processes  inspiring, which is always lovely to know - thank you Fran.

https://londonbookarts.org/

https://studiobergini.eu/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.07.2021

World Environment Day

Today is World Environment Day. This event is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. Since it began in 1974, the event has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries. Above all, World Environment Day is the "people's day" for doing something to take care of the Earth. That "something" can be local, national or global. It can be a solo action or involve a crowd.

What better day for me to show the wide range of recycled and environmentally friendly papers in our range...

If you'd like to have an intro to the range or just have a chat about recycled papers, give me a call or drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.06.2021

New A4 sample service launches today!

Very exciting news today!

Some readers of this blog may not even remember the humble Fax machine, but for many years they sat in the corner of the offices and studios of the land, humming away and allowing us to receive communications across the miles, before the internet...

So why am I telling you about these outdated office machines? Well, with the recent updating of the  UK broadband network, increased bandwidth and faster speeds, technology company Looflir PA has developed a program which enables paper samples to be delivered directly via the fax machine to your studio. Not only does this mean you can get your samples straight away, it also saves the environment as we will no longer have to send A4 samples by post or courier...

So now is the time to look out for those old fax machines in store cupboards and under desks and get them plugged in! And the good news is that even though Fenner Paper is the one that partnered with Looflir PA to pioneer this new concept, the new technology will be rolled out to the rest of the industry including other paper merchants and paper mills, which will make receiving samples from other parts of the world much easier.

Above is a sheet of our Colorset 100% Recycled, Bright Red 270gsm arriving on a Samsung machine during testing. Please note that there is a limit to the weights that can be sent and currently we are unable to send anything 1mm or over, so sadly we cannot send our SUMO range.

To sign up for the new service, please email samples@fennerpaper.co.uk and we will send you the relevant information and the download procedure. 

https/looflir.pa

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.04.2021

12.00 - time to reveal that this post is in fact an April Fools joke! hope you enjoyed it

Cheers

Justin

Pantone colours for 2021

Pantone has named two colours as its colour of the year for 2021 - Ultimate Gray and Illuminating, an "optimistic" hue of yellow. Pantone believes that the pairing of shades will help people "fortify themselves with energy, clarity and hope" in a world that's set to face increasing uncertainty - sounds good to me!

...and it got me thinking that we had two pretty similar shades in out Colorset range - Lemon and Ash:

...and they are also, both 100% recycled!

Our Colorset range has 36 shades, which you can read about HERE

If you would like to see the range, just email me for a swatch - justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.pantone.com/uk/en/color-of-the-year-2021

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.01.2021

Cards - Made by Shannon

One of the great pleasures I have doing this job is receiving lovely things in the post and last week, I received a lovely selection of cards from Made by Shannon...

This greeting card publishers is run by a lovely lady called Shannon and they are based in Surrey. The below card is printed on our CRUSH Grape 250gsm

Click on images to enlarge

Above is a more detailed image and hopefully you can see the small specs and inclusions in the paper. Crush is made partly using the residue from the industrial processing of agro-industrial "end of life" products replacing up to 15% of conventional tree pulp. The 15% process residues are combined with 40% recycled fibres (post consumer waste) and the remainder is FSC virgin pulp and the product is FSC certified. The range is produced using green energy and is carbon balanced at the mill gate (we can also supply the paper in the UK, certified as carbon balanced)

The A6 cards are printed and hot foil blocked in-house, where they have letterpress and a 1980's hot foil blocker which is used on cards and envelopes. However, they also sometimes just hand apply gold leaf as you can in the small embellishment below.

The above SIXTEEN TODAY card is printed on our Colorset Storm 270gsm. The beautifully hot foiled envelopes are made using Colorset Storm 120gsm.

...which also have a superb embossing on the flap:

At this time of year, personalised Christmas cards are in great demand and below is an example printed on our CRUSH Kiwi 250gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Thank you to Shannon for sending me this selection and if you would like to see her range of cards and gifts, you can see them HERE.

https://www.madebyshannon.co.uk/

Fenner Paper 2021 Diary

I am pleased to reveal the Fenner Paper 2021 Diary...

As in previous years, the diary is 230x162mm, portrait and retains the popular 'month to view' format. The cover board is printed offset litho in just one colour - silver pantone colour 877 on both Colorset Charcoal and Colorset Deep Blue 270gsm.

This year the diary has been designed by David Coates, independent designer and board director of ISTD.

The 40pp text is typeset in Foundry Tiento and Foundry Unie from The Foundry Types and is simply printed in one colour, offset litho, 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.

If you are one of our worthy clients (!), you should be receiving one of our diaries in the post but if you would rather have it sent to your home than the office or if you want to make sure you are in our address book, drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.12.2020

Colorset has 36 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!

Click on images to enlarge

A few years ago we started to bring in our Colorset range in 350gsm, so we now have ALL colours in 120gsm, 270gsm and 350gsm - all in B1 size (700x1000mm). 

Two years ago we further developed the range with 8 new colours, making this a collection of 36 shades.

The new shades include five light shades and three deep shades. The new shades are Blush, Warm White*, Glacier, Storm, Hopsack*, Charcoal*, Spearmint* and Deep Blue (Note: four of the new shades with an asterisk* are virgin fibre)

...so there you have it, a range with 36 colours including SEVEN 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 21.09.2020

Invitation to Void

Presented as part of last year's London Design Festival, VOID is an installation by photographer Dan Tobin Smith and creative studio The Experience Machine, a multi-sensory spatial installation at Collins Music Hall, Islington.

A selection of Mozambican rubies and Zambian emeralds from their supporter Gemfields’ mines, which date back millions of years, were brought to life through photography of tiny microcosms magnified to become abstract, galaxy-like structures.

Click on images to enlarge

This is the beautifully produced private view invitation. Size is A5 landscape (148x210mm). The invitation face is is printed on our Colorset, Dark Grey 270gsm, heavily debossed (see above) and hot foil blocked in metallic black foil. Below, shows the detail of the hot foil blocking 

The invitation is triplexed, with the Colorset Dark Grey on the face, our Sumo Black 1.5mm in the centre and a HP Indigo printed reverse, giving an overall thickness of 2mm.

Different images from the installation were used on the reverse of the invitations, the below image shows two of the images...

Design is by Sandra Zellmer. The superlative print and finishing is by Brighton based Generation Press, who are unusual in having litho, digital, letterpress and hot-foiling all in house.

https://www.londondesignfestival.com/event/void
https://gemfields.com/

http://www.sandrazellmer.com/
https://generationpress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.06.2020

Luzz 3D Puzzle

In these times of self-isolation and lock-down, a group of designers from London has gathered (virtually) and used our Colorset paper to respond creatively and responsibly to the unprecedented situation.

Their first creation is Luzz, a 3D puzzle formed of 100 unique pieces which once assembled, can be used as a lamp.

The design embodies the idea that we are all connected globally, both physically and virtually. With Luzz, the design team aims to promote social responsibility and with every puzzle sold, funds are being raised to support the production of essential PPE face masks for the frontline key workers of the NHS. 

Luzz has been imagined as a relaxing crafting passtime and an invitation to spend time away from our screens. Each of the 100 pieces are numbered and intuitively clip with one other to build the 3D spherical shape.

Click on images to enlarge

Once completed, the lamp measures 400mm in diameter and can shine a beautiful light in one’s home.

Colorset 270gsm has been duplexed to form 540gsm, which is strong enough to create the structure. The puzzle comes in 6 different colour combinations using our Colorset range of shades: Warm White, Hopsack, Deep Blue, Natural, Glacier and Storm.

Click on images to enlarge

The puzzle is laser cut from 10 A3 sheets of the thick, 540gsm card to give longevity and robustness to the lamp. Below are the components cut out of our new Colorset Hopsack...

All components of the puzzle nicely pack flat into an A3 envelope and come with a user friendly instruction guide to aid construction.

You can look (...and buy!) one of these amazing creations here.

The Luzz3D collective has boundless energy and imagination and are already working on developing their next 3D-puzzle-lamp. You can follow their designs at www.luzz3D.com or on social media: @Luzz3Dpuzzle

https://www.luzz3d.com/
www.laserbureau.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.05.2020

Typographic 71

This is the latest edition of Typographic, a journal published by ISTD (International Society of Typographic Designers) issue 71. This is a good read and there is always something in it to inspire, the content is entirely devoted to those practising typographic design, both past and present.

The contents include eight articles by/about: David Quay, Stephen Banham, Jim Northover, Cal Swann, Jared Patterson, Trevor Finnegan, Tony Pritchard, Nicole Phillips, Mike Daines. The Editorial Board is Jim Northover, Tony Pritchard, Caroline Roberts.

Size is A4, portrait. The 4pp cover is printed offset litho, hot foil blocked and die cut on our Astralux Silver 250gsm. The die cut holes form the number 7, allowing the 2pp end-papers (which feature front and back) on Colorset Blush to show through. The number 71 on the cover was inspired by David Quay's typographic walk through Amsterdam which is one of the articles in the journal. Cover artwork is by Tony Pritchard.

Click on images to enlarge

Click on images to enlarge

The 32pp text is printed offset litho on Pergraphica High White, Rough 120gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

The colour images have reproduced excellently on the uncoated surface of the Pergraphica and the result is really superb...

Click on images to enlarge

The publication is section sewn and the book opens nicely and the pages lay quite flat. As you can see from the image below, how metallic the Astralux Silver looks on the cover...

Design is by Miriam Brüggen who is based in Berlin and production is by Playne Design. It is beautifully printed, bound and finished by Empress Litho in London.

You can buy a copy of Typographic 71 on this link here.

However...
If you are a practising designer that cares about typographic standards and you aren't already an ISTD member, maybe you should think about joining - there are many benefits, this journal (free to members) is just one! - have a look http://www.istd.org.uk/ - it costs less than £10 per month and is excellent value.

www.istd.org.uk
https://www.empresslitho.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.01.2020