New Flora Recycled Swatch

If you aren't familiar with Flora, it is a part recycled text and cover paper with a deliberately recycled look and feel with specks and inclusions, so it looks deliberately flecky and specky. Flora is produced by Cordenons in Italy with 30% post consumer de-inked waste, together with 60% of virgin FSC pulp and with the "secret" ingredient of 10% of cotton fibres, which gives the paper a wonderful tactile feel.

All the shades have the specks and inclusions with the exception of the Gardenia shade which is a "clean" neutral white shade.

The range consists of nine shades in total including Anice, Giglio, Avorio, Tabacco, Noce, Gardenia and three new deeper shades Crusca, Canella and Ginepro.

Below shows the detail of the natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres - this paper has a character all of it's own!

To demonstrate the printability, there is a printed sample produced on the Flora Gardenia 130gsm - which is the shade without the inclusions.

It really is a lovely range. Muted natural colours and excellent printability. Here are some previous projects which have used Flora to great effect: 

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lower-mill-estate.html

https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2018/02/honest-burgers.html

If you would like one of our swatches, just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.09.2021

New So...Silk Swatch

There are some new swatches in town!

So...Silk is a range of iridescent paper and board from the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. The paper has a luxurious matt finish which is pleasing to the touch, similar to the soft texture of silk.

There is 'White Style' and seven colours which have amazing depth, all with a sensuous silky touch.

This paper looks amazing and make any publication or packaging look really special. If you would like one of these swatches, just drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk 

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.06.2021

Jobs from the past - Number 137

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good projects from years gone by and here's one from 2012.

The Wallpaper*Architects Directory 2012

Truly international, consistently intelligent and hugely influential, Wallpaper* is the world's most important design and style magazine. This piece of literature was produced to accompany an exhibition showing 20 architects from around the world. The exhibition was sponsored by Land Securities.

The finished size is 99x210mm which folds in half and then concertina folds out to an A2 size (420x594mm). Printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.

Front...

Click on images to enlarge

Reverse...

The designer on the project was Claudine Cockburn and as it happens, I still have her original brief, which is as follows: "I am working on a little catalogue project for an up and coming exhibition we are hosting in a few weeks time. The exhibition features architecture works from our directory which have been stitched by Peter Crawley onto thick slightly off white textured paper. The catalogue is actually going to be an A2 poster which will fold out and be given out at the exhibition. We will need around 700 posters. I wondered firstly, with our design we would like a little show through on the paper but ideally a little texture too" You can see the excellence of the commissioned artwork (both sides) in the below image...

My suggestion was possibly a rather unusual one, it was our Modigliani Candido 95gsm, from Gruppo Cordenons. It's really rather hard to demonstrate on a job like this, just how perfectly the material works with the artwork, it is simply superb. The underlying texture from the original artwork, which is scanned and printed has reproduced perfectly and you get the texture in the feel, through your fingers. 

Just to demonstrate, I have taken an image of the texture of the Modigliani, which is a feltmarked paper here...

Anyway, this is one small project that I'm particularly pleased about my involvement with - looks (and feels) as good today as it did nine years ago.

So where is everyone now...? Designer on the project was Claudine Cockburn, who is now a Senior Designer at D8 in Glasgow. Art Director was Sarah Douglas. Since 2012, she was appointed creative director and in 2017 she became Editor in Chief of Wallpaper*. Printing was by FE Burman, with Paul Regan looking after the project. Burman's is one of the last printers based in central London and has recently invested in the latest HP Indigo B2 press and Paul is the Sales Director.

https://www.wallpaper.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.04.2021

Modigliani

This is just a little reminder about one of our ranges called Modigliani. The range is manufactured by Cordenons in Italy. If you aren't familiar with Modigliani, it is a 'feltmarked' text and cover paper with a texture resembling that of a watercolour paper with a wonderful tactile feel. 

The inside of the swatch below:

Click on images to enlarge

Modigliani is available in three shades of white, Candido, Neve, Bianco plus Camoscio (cream) and Perla (grey). All shades are available in 95, 145, 200, 260 and 320gsm.

The above image shows detail of the watercolour texture.

The swatch also incorporates Dore Modigliani which is the same paper but with a pearlescent coating applied, which together with the feltmark gives the sheet an amazing shimmer, as you can see below...

If you would like a swatch, just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.03.2021

Lino King

When I started writing this blog back in 2009, it was because I wanted to share printed projects (mainly on our papers) with a wider audience than I can ever hope to visit personally. As this blog has evolved over time, a rewarding aspect has been showing work which has then inspired designers working in other areas. For example I have had a designer working in fashion promotion tell me they have been inspired by an article about a property brochure ... that's a satisfying feeling!

This project I believe will be one of those that will be of interest to all readers as it combines superb design, digital technology, hand embossing and wonderful use of colour.

Ashley Hutchinson is the designer and printmaker behind Ash Leaf Printmaking Studio. He produces limited edition lino and wood cut prints with a twist, as he incorporates embossing into all of his designs. All of the prints are embossed by hand using his three etching presses including his 1920s proofing press 'GEM'. Ash has been designing and publishing contemporary greeting cards for over 10 years.

This range of eight cards is called the Stardust Floral range. They are all printed on our Stardream range of pearlescent and metallic papers in 285gsm. Colours used are Opal, Rose Quartz, Lagoon, Vista, Azalea, Citrine, Fine Gold and Flame. Stardream is made by Gruppo Cordenons in Italy.

The 4pp cards are 145mm square

Showing anything in relief with my limited photographic abilities is hard, so it's easier for me to show the card printed on Stardream Opal 285gsm above ...and the inside of the same card below:

The embossing of the designs is truly outstanding but you'll have to take my word for it. It's also the colour combination of this range which I find so inspiring...

Production at Linoking is all in house. Printing is on a Canon inkjet printer and they are hand embossed.

As I mentioned earlier, the colour combinations is something I find inspiring - this purply/blue shade printed on the Stardream Azalea (below) is stupendous.

Sarah Glennie is my colleague who deals with our products that we sell into this market. The greeting card "industry" is quite a separate area of the creative world. It's interesting to me that there is so little crossover between the "corporate" design for print market and greeting card publishers who are responsible for putting the cards on the shelves in our shops around the country.

...anyway, I hope this article will inspire all creatives out there!

https://www.ashleafprintmaking.co.uk/stardust-floral-range
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.06.2017

New Modigliani Swatch

We now have a brand new A5 swatch for our Modigliani range manufactured by Cordenons in Italy. If you aren't familiar with Modigliani, it is a 'feltmarked' text and cover paper with a texture resembling that of a watercolour paper, it has a wonderful tactile feel. 

The inside of the swatch below:

Click on images to enlarge

Modigliani is available in three shades of white, Candido, Neve, Bianco plus Camoscio (cream) and Perla (grey). All shades are available in 95, 145, 200, 260 and 320gsm.

The above image shows detail of the watercolour texture.

The swatch also incorporates Dore Modigliani which is the same paper but with a pearlescent coating applied, which together with the feltmark gives the sheet an amazing shimmer.

 If you would like one of the new swatches, just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2017

Printweek Live!

Last week Fenner Paper had a stand at the at the PrintWeekLive! exhibition held at the Wasps Arena in Coventry. This was the inaugural event and was acclaimed as a success, with over 2,000 visitors across the two days. Visitors were attracted by combination of a show floor featuring the latest technology, workshop theatres and a conference schedule boasting several inspirational speakers.

On the Fenner Paper stand we showed all our product ranges including those from Cordenons, Favini and Koehler and many more. Fenner Paper is now the UK distributor for all the graphical ranges produced by the Reflex mill in Germany, including Zeta, Efalin, Spectral, T2000, Medley etc... all of which were displayed.

...also on our stand, we launched our new luxury direct food-contact paper from James Cropper, called Dolcelicious and we even had cakes and chocolate on the stand!



If you would like to see samples of any of these ranges, drop me an email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.03.2017

New Flora Swatch

We have a brand new A5 swatch for our Flora range manufactured by Cordenons in Italy. If you aren't familiar with Flora, it is a part recycled text and cover paper with a deliberately recycled look and feel with specks and inclusions, so it looks deliberately flecky and specky. Flora is produced with 30% post consumer de-inked waste, together with 60% of virgin FSC pulp and with the "secret" ingredient of 10% of cotton fibres, which gives the paper a wonderful tactile feel.

All the shades have the specks and inclusions with the exception of the Gardenia shade which is a "clean" neutral white shade. The range consists of nine shades in total including Anice, Giglio, Avorio, Tabacco, Noce, Gardenia and three new shades...

Click on image to enlarge

...which are lovely new deeper shades: Crusca, Canella and Ginepro

Below shows the detail of the natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres - this paper has a character all of it's own!

It really is a lovely range. Muted natural colours and excellent printability. Here are some previous projects which have used Flora to great effect:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/baines-fricker.html
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lower-mill-estate.html

If you would like one of the new swatches, just email: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.11.2016

Jobs from the past - Number 84

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by and here's one from 2007.

Barclays Silver Incentive 2007

This project was produced for Barclays Financial Planning in 2007, just one year before the financial crash in 2008. This is an internal promotion sent to financial advisors with an incentive that if they hit a certain target, they would get a luxurious weekend away in Venice. This rather lavish internal promotional item is designed to look like a medieval map....

The size of the map is A1 size (594x420mm) folding to A4. It folds in such a way that it creates a gatefold, so that an imitation wax seal is applied to seal the document.

Detail of the seal, which is a simplified version of the Barclays eagle.

The below image shows the map closed, half open and then fully open...

The map is printed on our Flora Avorio 130gsm. Flora is a  it is a part recycled paper (with FSC accreditation) with natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres. It has a tactile, rough feel and has a character which was just perfect to reproduce this old map.

Click on images to enlarge

The below image shows the reverse of the map, complete with aged water stains and wear marks.

Below are details of the map, which gives you an idea of the inclusions in the paper.



An interesting little adjunct to this story is that Flora is manufactured by an Italian paper mill called Cordenons, which is based close to Venice. In the 15th Century a group of Gutenberg's pupils established themselves in Venice and from then on, the centre of the Venetian empire became one of the most important areas for printing and publishing in Europe. By the 18th century, the records of the Senate of the Doges of Venice show there is documentary evidence of the manufacturer 'Cartiere Di Cordenons' noting the high esteem in which the mill was held. It has been widely known as "the paper mill of the Doges" since then and the winged Lion of Venice is still proudly the company's motif.

It's an excellent use of the right paper for the right job. You could have printed all the specks and flecks along with the aged look onto a white sheet of paper but it would never have had the impact or dramatic feel as this piece has achieved.

 

Design was 'in house' at Barclays Bank. Printing is Offset Litho in CMYK and it was printed by The Midas Press, who went bust in 2011 and who I wrote about here.

 

The project was handled by David Crompton at Midas Press, who sent me some copies and I still have his kind note.

David Crompton is now at Dayfold Printers in Dorset.

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2016