Showing posts with label French folding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French folding. Show all posts

Tuesday 3 October 2023

Jobs from the past - Number 167

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 this one is from 2013

AMC² Issue4
Archive of Modern Conflict is an independent publisher based in London and this is issue 4 of  their series of journals. (their books on photography and art have won or been shortlisted for many prizes). This is a truly beautiful book, which is just a delight to hold and leaf through.
 
AMC² issue4 comprises photographs from Collected Shadows, an exhibition curated by the AMC for Paris Photo 2012. The works span a period from the early 1850s to the present day and are by photographers both known and unknown, amongst them Bertha Jaques, Gustave Le Gray, Robert Frank, Willi Ruge, Paul-Émile Miot, Johann Böhm, Ferdinand Quénisset, Mario Giacomelli, Eugene Atget, Josef Sudek and many others, while subjects include earth, fire, air, water and ether as well as divinity, astronomy, meteorology, flight and dance (these words from AMC books)
The size is 230x200mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The publication has an 8pp cover on StarFine White 200gsm. The text is made up using "French-folded" sections on Marazion Ultra 90gsm which gives it a sensational light feel and flows beautifully in the hand. The book has a 14mm spine.
The book has 140pp or printed pages (which I would normally describe as 70 x 4pp French-folded sections) - this actually makes 280pp but because the other side is unprinted and the ends are bound, each 4pp = 2pp. It's a bit tricky but if you think about it, it makes sense. French folding with a material like Marazion Ultra 90gsm feels fantastic because the weight of the material lets the pages flop and flow beautifully. The 8pp cover (pictured below) on Starfine 200gsm contributes to the soft feel. 
The picture below shows the foredge with the "french-folded" text
The book is printed by a Belgian printer, Die Keure, who are based in Bruges. They are one of the most renowned European book printers and they print for many of the high end publishers in Europe. The print and binding is superb on this book. It is printed CMYK throughout but most of the images have a mono/sepia reproductions and it's hard to get the consistency of look and feel in one publication from multiple image sources but this is an admirable result.
 
The designer is Melanie Mues, who I have worked with for many years. It was great to have the opportunity to work on a book project together, especially one as exquisite as this. 
https://archiveofmodernconflict.com/amc2-journal-issue-4/
https://www.muesdesign.com/
https://www.diekeure.be/printing/en/
Posted by Justin Hobson 03.10.2023

Saturday 27 February 2021

Lunar

Tonight there is a Full Moon, this one is called the Snow Moon in the northern hemisphere, so what better day than to write about our range from Favini, called Lunar.
This range is very different to other pearlescent/metallic papers on the market, which are normally rather 'blingy' with bright shades. Lunar has seven subtle shades which are inspired by moonlight rays illuminating the dark with the shade range extending from glowing white and silvery shimmer to inky navy and pitch black.
As well as the subtle shades, this is also a subtly tactile range as Lunar has 2 wonderful micro-embossed textures, Nexus and Mini...
Detail showing the Nexus micro embossing 
Detail showing the Mini micro embossing 
This is a paper to be experienced through the fingers. The subtle micro embossed patterns give a multi-sensory experience and charge your imagination adding that third dimension to any print design and luxurious packaging project.

To accompany the swatch, there is a printed showbook to demonstrate printing quality and finishes.
Size is 240x154mm and features the letterpress work of Typoretum (see above image). Typoretum are a creative letterpress printing and design studio based in Colchester in Essex. Cecilia and Justin (good name!) are annual regulars at the St Bride Wayzgoose where we always see each other. 
The showbook is superbly printed and finished and is 'French Folded' (see above) - this is where the folded edges are on the foredge of the book, as in the picture above. 
Design and art direction is by Silk Pearce.

If you would like a copy of the Lunar showbook and swatch, just ask me for one! Email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk 

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.02.2021

Friday 24 April 2020

Crush - a truly sustainable paper

Many of you will know about our lovely range called CRUSH made by Favini in Italy. The paper is made partly using the residue from the industrial processing of crushed citrus fruit, coffee, nuts, olives, kiwi, corn, lavender cherries and grapes, these agro-industrial "end of life" products replacing up to 15% of conventional tree pulp. The range is available in 100, 120, 200, 250 and 350gsm and the shades are natural, earthy tones and the feel of the paper is natural and tactile.

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)
This is the current swatch which shows the colours and range of weights...
Below are more detailed images and hopefully you can see the small specs and inclusions in the paper. Corn, Citrus and Grape, pictured below, are totally natural shades produced without the use of any dies, which can result in an amount of shade variation from batch to batch.
Click on images to enlarge
The deeper shades are produced with the addition of environmentally friendly vegetable dies which ensure greater colour consistency...
To accompany the swatch, the mill have produced a wonderful photographic book called X-RAY, printed on a the Crush range (in CMYK) throughout.
Nick Veasey is an internationally renowned photographer and has specialised in using incredibly detailed X-Ray photography and can quite legitimately be described as an Xray artist.
Above images are CMYK, below the images are reproduced as Duotones.
Below image showing right hand page printed in Silver (Pantone 877)
The book is French folded and is 16pp (made using 8x french folded sections) which I hope you can see from the below image. The book is made using all the different shades in various weights and too complicated to list here!
The book is perfect bound and is beautifully finished with binding tape wrapped round the spine. The book has a dustjacket (with 118mm flaps).
Design and art direction is by Silk Pearce.

If you would like a copy of the X-Ray book, just ask me for one! Email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.nickveasey.com/
https://www.favini.com/gs/en/
https://www.silkpearce.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 24.04.2020

Tuesday 11 June 2019

Naomi's Poem

This project is a collaboration between Tom Sharp – poet, writer and founder of The Poetry of it all and Katherina Tudball, Creative Director at Superunion
In a limited edition of 200 copies, the publication confronts some cliff-edge health news Tom’s sister received in August last year. Through poetry, Tom began documenting the siblings’ emotional journey – as fears, nostalgia, regrets and love became the focus of their conversations.
The size of the book is 230x100mm, portrait.The only immediately readable type is the title and a short introduction on the inside front cover (above)
...as each section of the poem is bound within a French-folded text printed on our lightweight Offenbach Bible 60gsm, meaning that it is hidden from sight and requires the reader to tear the paper in order to read. Below you can see the torn pages revealing the poem.
Click on images to enlarge
‘Naomi’s Poem’, is a single epistolary poem in twelve sections, shared between brother and sister as part of a therapeutic creative conversation.

The text is made from 12x 4pp French folded sections. Below shows one unopened book and one with the torn pages...
Rich with drowning imagery, the poetry is set in 8pt Doves Type, the typeface famously lost under the waters of the Thames for 100 years before being rescued and accurately recreated by Robert Green.
The truly amazing binding is stitching that mirrors surgical patterns. As part of the design process, Katherina and Tom consulted with Fleur Oakes, Imperial College’s Vascular Surgery Department’s Lacemaker in Residence.
Click on images to enlarge
The printing, finishing and binding is by Boss Print who are based in West London and it is truly superb - yes, they managed to sew the book like this! The text is all printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm and the cover is printed on Colorset Natural 270gsm

This is a highly personal project which has been produced in a truly amazing way. I am very grateful to have received my copy - No 172 of 200.

https://www.superunion.com/
https://www.thepoetryofitall.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 11.06.2019