Jobs from the past - Number 95

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...

Boots Company Report and Accounts 1997

I was reminded about this project from twenty years ago as this project uses paper made at the Curtis Fine Paper, Guardbridge Paper Mill, which has since closed and now houses the Eden Mill brewery and distillery, which I wrote about below.

Up until the early 2000's the design and printing of company annual report and accounts was VERY big business. In the burgeoning design market of the 1980's and 90's There were many design companies which specialised in just annual reports (the likes of Michael Peter, Bamber Forsyth, Benjamin Rowntree, Radley Yeldar etc) and printers who would specialise in printing them such as Greenaway Harrison, Litho-Tech, Oakley Press, White Dove etc.

Back in those dim and distant days, it was very common for Annual Reports to be divided into the Report - printed on a white paper, printed in four colour process (with photographs!) and the Accounts section - printed on a coloured paper ...and this job follows that pattern.

This is the Report and Accounts for the Boots Company, the group of companies based on the Nottingham chemists founded in 1849 by John Boot. Back in 1997 they were a PLC in the FTSE 100, however ten years ago they were bought by a private equity firm based in Switzerland. The design is by Addison and the printer was Litho-Tech.

The size of the report is 297x180mm, portrait. It has a 4pp cover, which is printed in a blue and is matt laminated.

Below you can see the split between the two sections.

According to my notes, the 36pp front 'report' section was printed on Zanders Megamatt 150gsm, printed in CMYK, possibly with a special and a 'spot gloss machine varnish' which was a highly desirable effect back in those days.

The 44pp 'accounts' section is where I came in! I was briefed by Karen Blades, Production Manager at Addison to provide a bespoke paper to what was described as a 'post it note yellow' shade, which as you can see from the result below, we managed to achieve.

Click on images to enlarge

We decided to work with Curtis Fine Paper, who at the time had two paper mills in Scotland, one at Dalmore and one at Guardbridge, previously they were know as GB Paper. I sent the mill a sample of the colour and the received a couple of 'lab samples' made in the technical department at the mill. These were then forwarded to Addison and eventually to the end client for approval. I've written about what a mill making is here:
https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/what-is-mill-making.html

In this instance, the mill agreed to make a 2 tonne trial so a small group went to the mill to see the paper as it was being made. This was pretty unusual even in those days! ...so I visited the Guardbridge mill accompanied by Karen Blades from Addison and Derek Adnitt and Les Baker from Litho-Tech printers. As a result we were able to show the client EXACTLY the paper they were getting.

After that trial, Boots were shown the paper, it was approved and then the mill manufactured the remainder of the paper.
 - and back in those days everything was done by fax and fortunately I still have the fax in my archive with the approval...


Click on images to enlarge

The printers called Litho-Tech were based in Kennington, London who at the time was one of the leading corporate printers in London if not the UK. Sadly like many printers of that era, the company no longer exists. It was printed offset litho. My notes aren't completely clear but I recall it was about 16 tonnes . Derek Adnitt was the sales director, Les Baker, the production manager and Paul Watson the Managing Director. Here are the credits which are in the back of the report.

Karen Blades now works at Print Source UK and still spends her time producing quality annual reports!

...a real trip down memory lane!

http://www.boots.com/
https://www.addison-group.net/

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.09.2017

Eden Mill

Last week I was in Scotland on holiday and visited St Andrews. We were booked onto a gin tasting tour at Eden Mill and was surprised when we arrived that the distillery and brewery is actually in the the former Guardbridge Paper Mill, which until 2008 many of you would have known as Curtis Fine Paper.

The Fife-based Eden Brewery became Scotland’s first combined brewery and distillery in 2014, when they branched out into making Scotch Whisky and Gin. The move also represented a slight twist in history as before becoming the Guardbridge mill making paper, the mill was a distillery owned by the Haig family, called the Seggie Distillery between 1810 and 1860.


Guardbridge Paper Mill - early 20th century?

The former paper mill buildings which now house the Eden Mill Distillery and Brewery.

The mill clock, which still works...

Inside the distillery, the former paper mill offices are now tasting rooms and administration offices.

Many of the original mill fittings and fixtures in this listed building are still in place.

As Scotland's first single-site distillery and brewery, making gin, whisky and beer, Eden Mill spirit is created by distillers in copper pot-stills and exhibits a wide range of flavours from botanicals sourced from the local area, as well as from around the world - and I tasted all of them, courtesy of our excellent and knowledgeable guide.

I've previously written about other paper mills which are now being used for other uses, including one owned by Google as a data centre:

https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/from-paper-to-data.html

..and one used as a shopping centre:
https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/from-paper-mill-to-shopping-mall.html

I hope Eden Mills continues to expand and utilise more of the former mill site ...just so long as they can retain their craft heritage and hand made ethos.
https://www.edenmill.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 31.08.2017

 

...the last time I visited Curtis Fine Papers, Guardbridge Mill was in 1997 to see the paper being made for the Boots annual report, which I shall write about on my next "job from the past" post tomorrow!