Mondi announces Russia Exit

I have written on this blog before about the fact that Mondi was supporting the Russian economy and their war machine by continuing to manufacture paper in Russia. The good news is that Mondi has finally confirmed that it plans to divest its Russian operations because of the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Mondi has a substantial presence in Russia with a net asset value of nearly €700m (£600m), and have been reviewing options for their Russian operations since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

It's a tough decision but I think we can all appreciate it is the right thing to do. Well don to the Mondi board for making the right call.

You can read the full Printweek article here:

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/mondi-confirms-russian-exit

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.05.2022

Boycott Mondi to support Ukraine

I have written on this blog before about the fact that Mondi is still supporting the Russian economy by manufacturing paper in Russia.

Yesterday, I saw an article in the Evening Standard stating that Six in 10 Brits ready to boycott companies operating in Russia...

Click on image to enlarge

This is according to research commissioned by Hanbury Strategy. Six in 10 Brits want firms to cease trading in Russia altogether.

Mondi is one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world with manufacturing facilities and offices all around the world including facilities in Russia which employ 5,300 people. I have been calling for everyone in the print and design industry to put Mondi under pressure to suspend production in Russia. It is only by large corporates like Mondi (turnover £5.5 Billion!) exerting pressure such as this on the Russian Government that could make a difference. It will affect the Russian economy and also get more people in Russia talking about the situation.

Please email the CEO: andrew.king@mondigroup.com and state...

"as a global leader in paper and packaging we ask you to demonstrate real leadership and suspend production at your sites in Russia" Flood his email box - PLEASE Please use twitter, facebook, instagram and whatever social media you can to get the message across and get everyone you know to email him too.

Secondly you can boycott Mondi products. Stop buying, specifying or using any Mondi products until they suspend their activities in Russia. In printing/graphics you may be familiar with their brands Color Copy, Nautilus Recycled and Pergraphica. Color Copy is the largest brand used in offices and copy shops and seen everywhere.

https://www.mondigroup.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.03.2022

Ukraine - Make a difference NOW!

I'm sure most of us working in the graphic arts industry, whether a designer, printer or paperperson have wondered if there is anything positive that we can do to help with the Ukrainian-Russian war ...well now there is!

An article appeared in PrintWeek yesterday which highlights a global paper manufacturer who is still producing paper in Russia. The company is called Mondi and are one of the largest paper and packaging companies in the world with manufacturing facilities and offices all around the world including facilities in Russia which employ 5,300 people.

In my opinion we should all be putting Mondi under pressure to suspend production in Russia. It is only by large corporates like Mondi (turnover £5.5 Billion!) exerting pressure such as this on the  Russian Government that could make a difference. It will affect the Russian economy and also get more people in Russia talking about the situation.

I have been racking my brains as to any contribution that I can make to this struggle and here (thanks to PrintWeek) there is something that all of us in the graphic arts can do!

Firstly, please email the CEO and Chairman of the Mondi Group (who I believe are both based in their Surrey headquarters) 

CEO is: andrew.king@mondigroup.com 

Chairman is: philip.yea@mondigroup.com

Jenny Hampshire is the Company Secretary and is listed as the Governance contact: jenny.hampshire@mondigroup.com

https://www.mondigroup.com/en/

Please email these people - get everyone you know to email them asking them "as a global leader in paper and packaging we ask you to demonstrate real leadership and suspend production at your sites in Russia" Flood their email boxes - PLEASE

Please use twitter, facebook, instagram and whatever social media you can to get the message across.

Secondly you can boycott Mondi products. Stop buying, specifying or using any Mondi products until they suspend their activities in Russia. In printing/graphics you may be familiar with their brands Color Copy, Nautilus Recycled and Pergraphica. Color Copy is the largest brand used in offices and copy shops and seen everywhere.

If you are a printer - tell your paper merchant you won't be buying a Mondi product until they have suspended operations in Russia. If you are a designer or project manager, make sure you don't specify any of their products. If you are in packaging, make sure that packaging is not being supplied by Mondi. Antalis is one of the large Mondi distributors in the UK.

This is something we can all do which might just help a bit - it won't take much time to do ...and if you don't think you've got time, just imagine you've heard gunfire outside your window - that's what it's like for those poor people in Ukraine right now, so spend 5 minutes of your time and send some emails - it might just make a difference.

You can read the story in PrintWeek here: https://www.printweek.com/news/article/mondi-updates-on-ukraine-russia

Please note: I have nothing against Mondi. This is not personal. We have worked with Mondi in the past and they are a very nice company to work with - but they are in the situation where they can make a difference, so we must tell them!

UPDATE on 4th March - article in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/c1855f14-9afd-11ec-8194-a993851c15ba?shareToken=84ac5bf545ddd88bda72c70ddc58cda3

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.03.2022

PS - for comparison, there is another global paper company called StoraEnso (interestingly some people consider Stora Enso to be the oldest limited liability company in the world having been incorporated in 1288!). Stora Enso is stopping all production and sales in Russia until further notice due to the ongoing invasion in Ukraine. Good for them! You can read more HERE

Pergraphica Calendar for 2021

We have a new 2021 'tent' calendar produced for the PERGRAPHICA® range of design papers. Pergaphica is a range of premium design produced in Austria by Mondi and features smooth and rough finishes in High White, Classic and Natural shades.

The size of the calendar is 310x150mm (flat size) and folds into a tent 112x150mm, held in place with a locking tab. 

Click on images to enlarge

The calendar is printed offset litho on Pergraphica, Natural Rough 240gsm. The below image shows the locking tab...

Fenner paper is pleased to be the UK stockist for Pergraphica. One fact that might be of interest is that we keep 120-300gsm in Short Grain B1 sheets - which can be very useful if you are looking for a specific grain direction.

If you would like one of these calendars to adorn your studio desk or more likely your home office! drop me an email and I'll pop one in the post: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.mymondi.net/ufp/en/brand-group/pergraphica

Posted by Justin Hobson  21.12.2020

Catching Feels online launch

This Thursday, 22nd October at 2pm (BST), you can join us for the PERGRAPHICA® 'Catching Feels' online launch. This is the new lookbook for our PERGRAPHICA® range of uncoated papers manufactured by Mondi

Featuring contributors from the Adobe Stock Premium Collection, Catching Feels takes you on a sensory journey through six feelings, as emotive visuals are enhanced through different printing techniques and finishes on distinctive paper shades, adding depth to a creative vision. 

Learn about PERGRAPHICA®design papers as well as the printing and special finishing techniques applied in the book with the design, special finishing and paper experts that were involved in the project. 

Hear from the following speakers...

• Zoe Truchy - Brand Manager for design papers with the paper making team at Mondi 
• Karen Henderson - Customer Project Development Manager in the UK for Mondi
• Matt Hornby – Sales Director of Foilco, the leading specialists for hot stamping foils. 
• Cos Mingides - Founding Partner who leads the creative department at True. 

Fenner Paper is pleased to be the stockist for PERGRAPHICA® in the UK.

To join us on the online launch, you can register HERE

Posted by Justin Hobson 19.10.2020

Anthropologie in Spring

US fashion and lifestyle brand Anthropologie first opened its doors in Pennsylvania, in 1992 and now operates 229 stores worldwide, 11 of which are in the UK. Last April, they opened a new 2,898 sq ft store in the historic market town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Set across four floors, the store is situated on the cobbled High Street just above the world renowned Pantiles.

For the opening of the new store, the Anthropologie windows and interior of the store were dressed in Spring time leaves which were all laser cut. We supplied our Pergraphica Classic White, Rough 240gsm which is our premium range of uncoated from Mondi – which was laser cut by Patternise and then hand-painted by Anthropologie’s window display team and the result is simply amazing - and plastic free!

Pergraphica was chosen after testing the board with the painting techniques at the studio and was selected from a range of other boards tested. Patternise are based in Ewhurst, Surrey, specialising in creative design and laser-cutting services. They work with a wide range of clients across the UK - managing large volume projects for major corporates and visual merchandisers to smaller projects for individuals and weddings. Patternise use state of the art laser cutters and they specialise in cutting “clean” materials such as fine papers, cards, and plastics.

Above is a detail image of the leaves. The shapes are produced using their "super pulsed" Trotec galvo system (GS1000), which enables extremely high-speed laser cutting and high volume paper finishing. Using this system they are able to cut many 1000's of sheets within very quick time-frames, which would be impossible with conventional lasers.

https://www.anthropologie.com/
https://www.patternise.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.10.2020

Pergraphica at St Brides

Yesterday evening,  I jointly hosted a small event together with Mondi, the manufacturer of our new Pergraphica range of text and cover papers. We invited a small group of designers from a variety of different studios to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation. There were about twenty of us in all and the evening started with an introduction about the Pergraphica range by Isabel Bernd (below) from Mondi.

We then moved to the Letterpress workshop and were given a history and briefing by the technicians, Bob, Barry and Andrew.

Then everyone was encouraged to have a go at inking up and printing...

For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop, conference rooms.

Everyone had a go at  lino-cutting, Andrew had selected the letter E from a Pouchet engraved alphabet which was divided into 16 pieces which were individually cut by different people over the course of the evening.

...just look at the concentration!

When each of the panels was finished they were assembled and put on a proofing press, as you can see below:

...and here is Andrew Long with the first print:

...and here's the finished result:

Thanks to Mondi for sponsoring the event and for providing the Pergraphica paper used throughout the evening.

My personal thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Bob Richardson, Mick Clayton, Andrew Long and Barry who made the evening really good fun.

www.sbf.org.uk
https://www.mymondi.net/ufp/en/brand-group/pergraphica

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.11.2019

Aylesford Newsprint in administration

Today, the sad news has been announced that Aylesford Newsprint has gone into administration (going into administration effectively means your company is being taken under the management of a court appointed administrator – who must be a licensed insolvency practitioner - appointed by the courts).

Aylesford Newsprint Ltd is a paper mill based near Maidstone in Kent, producing on average 400,000 tonnes of recycled newsprint every year from recycled waste fibre, much of it sourced from London. Paper has been manufactured on the Aylesford site since 1922.

In 1993 they harnessed new recycling technology and became a leader in the production of 100% recycled newsprint under the brand name Renaissance newsprint.

In October 2012 the mill joint owners (SCA and Mondi) sold the mill to Martland Holdings, a US investment group. At the time of the sale SCA reported that the mill had been loss making for several years. However, ahead of the sale, Aylesford Newsprint was recapitalised to leave a business with no debt. Sadly this does not appear to have set them on the road to recovery.

Aylesford Newsprint processes over 500,000 tonnes of recycled waste fibre, produces 400,000 tonnes of newsprint paper operating 365 days a year. The mill is situated on a 100 acre site which, as you'll be able to appreciate from the picture below, is huge.

This is very sad news for the area and the 300 employees that work there. This is 'heavy' industry - the type of industry that once it is lost, is unlikely to come back. I hope that the administrators will be able to restructure the business and find a buyer.

...however it is not all bad news for the UK paper industry. In September 2009, I wrote about a new paper mill opening in Kings Lynn in Norfolk.
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2009/09/paper-mill-actually-opens-in-uk.html

Well, last month they produced the two millionth tonne of newsprint - a remarkable achievement as it was achieved in 12% less time than the initial million tonnes produced on this machine. You can read about it on the following link: http://www.palmpaper.co.uk/en/News/

http://aylesford-newsprint.co.uk/
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/malling/news/aylesford-newsprint-goes-into-administration-32271/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.02.2015