Diamond Dolls

Diamond Dolls is an artist book by Hormazd Narielwalla, co-published by Concentric Editions and EMH Arts, London. It takes the form of a limited edition (300 copies) made as an artist’s book in 3 Acts.

Diamond Dolls is a sumptuous artist’s book that originates from a sequence of Hormazd Narielwalla’s highly distinctive paper collages. The below image shows the front cover...

Conceived as a sculptural object in three parts and designed to stand like a series of shoji screens, the original collages are printed front and back to reveal the ‘artifice’ of cutting and pasting involved in their construction, while the foiling of paper edges and details of de-bossed abstract patterns, gives the opening and arranging of the book a tactile and performative quality.

Thirty six images carry a running motif of Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ persona, each of which is defined by elaborate, decorative costuming. Cipher-like, the figures reference the Japanese gender-fluid traditions of kabuki and onnagata, which influenced Bowie in his approach to challenging conventions about sexuality.

The books are litho printed by PrintSmith on our Omnia 200gsm. Omnia was chosen for it's dead flat matt characteristics plus a tactile feel but as you can see, with great colour reproduction. PrintSmith printed this project using their expanded colour gamut process, which makes for the super bright colour rendition of the works along with super sharp detail, which as you can see from these images is amazing.

The concertina folded pages are printed front and back to reveal the of cutting and pasting of the original construction, below shows a detail...

The finished size of each three books is 240x165mm, portrait and each book is a 28pp concertina. The below image shows how the pages fold over as a conventional book, when folded up.

The full extent of the long concertina...

This superb book is currently being exhibited at the Eagle Gallery in Farringdon Road (until 7th August), the picture below, shows the book (and the slipcase) at the exhibition.

There is also an installation in the window at Essie Carpets on Piccadilly.

This is a truly stunning piece of work and has been exceptionally well received in the artworld. A superb piece of print and finishing by Fenton at PrintSmith. Thanks to Hormazd Narielwalla, EMH Arts and PrintSmith for the images.

https://www.narielwalla.com/

http://www.emmahilleagle.com/exhibitions/current-exhibition/

https://www.printsmith.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.07.2021

David Magee at the Saatchi Gallery

Last week the Saatchi Gallery hosted the seventh edition of START (now STARTnet) with Parallel Contemporary Art, founded by David and Serenella Ciclitira. STARTnet and the Saatchi Gallery share a passion for discovering new art scenes and emerging artists worldwide provide this dynamic environment for artists, curators, collectors and new enthusiasts to engage with new international talent.

So in these uneasy Covid times, I made a visit to the Duke of York's in Chelsea, where the gallery was very well prepared for social distancing.

I specifically went to see the work of David Magee, who is an Irish artist. He published his twenty-five year retrospective, Oustide in 2017 which won international awards in Paris, New York, Tokyo, and London. I wrote about this award winning publication previously HERE.

This new series of pictures is from his ongoing series Atlantic.

The award winning book, Outside, was published by Concentric Editions and printed in Vivid Colour™ by Boss Print in London (with just a little paper supplied by Fenner Paper). A copy of this award winning book was on display...

“For over 30 years, I have been making photographs Outside. My aim is to provide an antidote to the world we now inhabit, a world of excess, over-branding and mass production. My intention is to offer the viewer a point in time to reflect and be drawn into a world of oneness, contemplation and tranquility. To engage the viewer with the experience of being immersed in the landscape and the spirituality of nature. Earth, Water, Air... are the recurring elements that I work with. It is my relationship with and my interpretation of these elements that forms the basis of my photographs, once I am absorbed in the landscape. The location itself is totally secondary to the feeling. The feeling is everything.”

https://davidmageephotography.com/

https://www.concentriceditions.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.10.2020

British Book Design & Production Awards 2019

Last week,  I was lucky enough to be at the British Book Design and Production Awards which is hosted and run by the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) at the Landmark Hotel in  Marylebone. A very lavish and swish occasion.

I was kindly invited by Fenton Smith and Bonnie Lo from London print company BOSS, who were shortlisted for a number of awards.

 

On arrival, the nominated entries were all out on display and it was a truly wonderful array of books and catalogues. 

 ...a gathering of over 200 people from the world of publishing, print and design - and a few paper people in there as well! Here I am with my industry colleague, Charlotte Harvey from Antalis.

Once seated in the grand dining room, the evening was opened by Charles Jarrold, Chief Executive of the BPIF...

It was particularly lovely that a project which I was involved with won the category for "Limited Edition & Fine Binding" The project is titled "Paper Dolls" by artist Hormazd Nariewella. It is designed by Ornan Rotem  and published by Concentric Editions and Sylph Editions and it was beautifully printed by Boss Print on our Gardapat 13, Kiara 135gsm 

 ...and here is the team that made the book possible, collecting the award on stage, collecting the award from the compere Konnie Huq.

 Here is a sneak preview of the book (which I write about another time)…

Here is Bonnie from Boss with the artist Hormazd Nariewella:

Boss went on to win a further three awards, including the grand finale award "Best British Book" for North Northwest designed by Les Welch, pictured below with Fenton Smith from Boss:

Congratulation to all the finalists and award winners. You can read more about the entries and the winners here: https://www.britishbookawards.org/winners-2019/

It was a great evening - good company and food and my thanks go to Boss Print for inviting me and it was great meeting up with many other old friends on the table too.

https://www.bossprint.com/

https://www.britishbookawards.org/

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.11.2019

British Book Design & Production Awards 2018

Yesterday evening,  I was lucky enough to be at the British Book Design and Production Awards which is hosted and run by the British Printing Industries Federation (BPIF) at London's Mountcalm Hotel in Marble Arch. A very lavish and swish occasion

I was kindly invited by Fenton Smith from London print company Boss Print, who were also one of the sponsors and printed the awards catalogue. Below is pictured Fenton (left) together with photographer Giles Revell, who's book 'Cartographic Colour' published by Concentric Editions was a finalist in the awards

On arrival, the nominated entries were all out on display and it was a truly wonderful array of books and catalogues. 

The evening was opened by Charles Jarrold, Chief Executive of the BPIF...

 ...a gathering of over 200 people from the world of publishing, print and design - and a few paper people in there as well!

Congratulation to all the finalists and award winners. You can read more about the entries and the winners here: https://www.britishbookawards.org/shortlist-winners-2018/ Below shows all the winners on stage...

Boss Print sponsored the category for 'Self Published Books' and they also produced the awards catalogue and the exquisitely produced boxes, in which the catalogues were locked away until the awards concluded and the keys were distributed so everyone could get their hands on the lovely catalogues.

Click on images to enlarge

It was a great evening - good company and food and my thanks go to Boss Print for inviting me and it was great meeting up with many other old friends on the table too.

https://www.bossprint.com/

https://www.britishbookawards.org/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.11.2018

Outside - David Magee

Outside is a limited run hardcover book which is a twenty-five year retrospective by landscape fine-art photographer David Magee. The book accompanies an exhibition shown at the Herrick Gallery in Mayfair in February.

The 116pp book, contains words and 48 images from the exhibition, which is a selection of Magee’s work, taking in landscape photography of scenery in Ireland, Greece, India and the US.

The book is 310mm square and is published by Concentric Editions. Printing is by Boss and uses their Vivid Colour process and the result is truly spectacular!

The book is printed on a variety of text and cover papers from our friends at that other well known "Hull based" paper merchant including the cover material on Iwahada Rockskin from Takeo in Japan, but the book also includes a number of French-folded chapter sections, as well as short page tip-ins on our lovely Offenbach Bible 60gsm.

The great news is that it's just been announced that the book has been awarded a Silver Award at the 2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards

The Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA) receives thousands of international entries, which are judged by an equally international Jury. During May, there is an exhibition of TIFA award winners at the CA Gallery, just in case you happen to be in Japan....

Congratulations to David Magee, who I have known for many years. Speaking about this retropsective book, he says “In my photographs, there is no real sense of time or specific place. The location is totally secondary to the feeling.The feeling is everything. I aim to portray not just what exists, but what is not obvious; that imperceptible element that stirs emotion and a sense of contemplation…”

https://davidmageephotography.com/home

https://www.concentriceditions.com/shop.php?1

https://www.concentriceditions.com/

https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2018