The Flacks Family Collection

On 16 September last year, a selection of 46 lots from the collection of Marcus and Debby Flacks were auctioned at Christie's in New York.

Marcus Flacks is one of the pre-eminent sources for classical Chinese furniture, rare scholar’s objects and contemporary Asian paintings. Among the highlights are an extremely rare pair of 17th century huanghuali and spotted bamboo scholar’s cabinets, perhaps the only known pair in existence.

This is the auction catalogue produced by the Flacks family and Christie's for the sale. Size is 210x268mm, portrait.

The publication has 148pp text pages printed on Neptune Unique SoftWhite 135gsm (a bespoke weight). The cover is printed on Dali Neve 320gsm, with 133mm flaps on the inside front and back covers.

An important feature that makes all the difference to this publication is the binding. It is a square backed limp bound book (spine is 13mm) but the binding type that is used is called OTASTAR. This is a method of bookbinding that offers an elegant binding solution with advantages over conventional soft cover binding. One of the main advantages is that it lays flatter than a conventional section sewn book. It mimics the construction of a case bound book, so the spine of the text is free from the cover (see image below). It is this that results in the text and whole book laying flatter.

The publication is printed in CMYK throughout and the imagery is truly striking. The Neptune Unique SoftWhite used for the text is an uncoated off-white, smooth (yet tactile) text and cover paper - the printed result is simply fantastic.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is the pair of 17th century huanghuali and spotted bamboo scholar’s cabinets. These are possibly the only pair in existence.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is Liu Dan’s Far-off Journey, painted in 2006 for Marcus Flacks.

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The below images show the detail for the inside of the cover, printed in mono, showing the detail of the spotted bamboo.

Below is a detail of the outside front cover printed on Dali which is a felt-marked paper with a linear effect and a natural, tactile feel. The cover is printed CMYK and the title is hot foil blocked in metallic gloss foil. If you click on the image, you will be able to see the texture in the paper and the superb foiling...

Click on images to enlarge

The book is published by Sylph Editions. Design is by Ornan Rotem and production is by Num Stibbe. The superb printing is offset litho by Robstolk in Holland. The printed result on this uncoated substrate is simply superb, which combined with the superlative binding makes this a piece of print that is seriously noteworthy.

www.christies.com
http://www.mdflacks.com/
http://www.sylpheditions.com/
http://www.robstolk.nl/drukwerk/contact/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.01.2017

Jobs from the past - Number 75

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...

Open to Learn - Pearson 2010

Pearson is a company with 150 year old history. Most recently they have been regarded as a publishing company which has now been restructured, becoming the world's largest education company.

Open to Learn is a publication produced at the time of their re-branding, to introduce Pearson as a learning company. Subtitled 'Pearson in Ten Lessons', the introduction is by Dame Marjorie Scardino, who was then CEO of Pearson.

The booklet is an A5 portrait, limp bound with an 8pp cover and a 24pp text (plus a 'throw out') - making it 26pp text.

One of the really interesting facets of this job is that they produced four different coloured covers. Just simply by picking up on the lead colours used throughout the publication. Both the outside covers and the inside of the 8pp covers were changed, two of the colours are shown below...

Below image shows inside front spread:

Click on images to enlarge

The paper used is our Neptune Unique SoftWhite. The cover is 300gsm and text is 155gsm. The choice of paper was particularly important for this publication. As it was being produced by a publisher, it had to have the right 'booky' feel which also meant that an off white shade and uncoated tactile feel was desirable - and as you can see from the design, a coated paper would not have been right.

The below image shows the throw out...

Click on images to enlarge

This project was part of the new Pearson brand identity which was completed by Interbrand in London. The team that worked on the identity is as follows: Creative Directors: Ian Styles/Chris Davenport/ Simon Thompson Design Directors: Ed Bolton/Arielle Breit Copywriter: Chris Davenport Graphic Designers: James Holland/David Lismer. You can read more about this project on the following link:
http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/design-casestudy/pearson-pearson-brand-identity-14858105/

Print was managed by Peter Roberts and Emma Dixon from Urban Print Support - who are self styled "print guardians to brand guardians" - they work for many agencies and end clients to bolster their print production knowledge. Print is by Gavin Martin Colournet.

All in all a very well executed project - a really, really well produced piece of literature.

https://www.pearson.com/
http://www.interbrand.com/en
http://www.urbanprintsupport.co.uk/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.01.2016

Jobs from the past - Number 70

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...

Splash of Paint - 1999
"Why not go out on a limb... that’s where the fruit is" is a quotation from Mark Twain and forms the introduction for this excellent piece of print from over fifteen years ago. Splash of Paint are a design consultancy based just outside Reading and this was their promotional brochure produced in 1999.  

Click on images to enlarge

Size is 330x240mm portrait. The brochure is printed on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite and is just a beautiful piece of print. It has a 16pp text on 155gsm and a 6pp cover on 250gsm, but more about that later!

The brochure is three hole sewn but with a difference ...there are two banks of thread, making it six hole sewn in total! The thread is a natural colour.

One of the things that I'm sure you will be able to see from these pictures is just how exceptional the image reproduction is. The retouching is credited as being by Film Creative Services but I can't seem to find them online. The publication is printed offset litho in four colour process and the result is superb, it looks just as fresh and vibrant now as it did back then.

Earlier I mentioned it was a 6pp cover (with a difference). The extra flap is on the inside back cover but it is pasted down, which not only adds extra weight to the cover but allows the die cut tabs to pop out to hold either an A4 letterhead or card. Smart idea!

Below picture shows the exterior shot of the binding:

Design is by Splash of Paint and the creative director is Malcolm Hatton. Print production was by Alex MacLennan who is now a partner at Urban Print Support.

The project was printed  by a west London company called Fernedge, who were an excellent print company in their day. Pippa Redmond (Mustoe) was Managing Director at Fernedge. They ceased trading, having become Image Litho, in around 2003.

This brochure is exceptionally well printed and is still one of the best samples on Neptune Unique SoftWhite that I have in my collection. From my recent contact with Judith Evans at Splash of Paint, they still consider it as one of their favourites as well!

http://www.splashofpaint.com/

http://www.urbanprintsupport.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.08.2015

Jobs from the past - Number 66

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...

Meyouheshehimherthings - 2000

This is a project produced as a student promotion for the Salvation Army Trading Company.

The 'Meyouheshehimherthings' promotion travelled nationwide to student fairs to draw attention to Salvation Army charity shops, tempting students in to buy second-hand clothing for prices much lower than high-street retailers. Peter & Paul (at DA) created this perforated postcard book as a giveaway, to highlight the clothes and to give students something to write to friends and family on (in this pre-digital age!)

The finished size of the postcard book is A5 portrait (210x148mm)

It is formed of 6 panels, making a 12pp concertina folded booklet, with images one side and space for writing on the reverse.

Click on image to enlarge

Below are the spreads as they appear in the book:

Front Cover

The cards are perforated horizontally and vertically to produce A6 size cards. It is printed on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 250gsm, which has a neutral whiteness and just suits this piece of literature perfectly.

A clever feature of these cards is to include a discount card. This is a perforated credit card size card which punches out  and when presented with a valid NUS card, gives the holder a discount. Of course, these days, there'd be an app for that!

A particular feature that is worth pointing out, is the perforations. As you can see from the below picture, perforations can look great, even beautiful. As I have pointed out on this blog previously, these perfs only look this good because the designer took the time to explain what they wanted to the printer it's worth asking the printer to show you different types of perforations that are available - it doesn't cost a penny more!

 

This project was designed at a now defunct agency called DA in Leeds, but the creative directors on the project and the two people who drove the project are Peter Donohoe and Paul Reardon and the project is attributed to Peter and Paul who went to found their agency under that same name: http://www.peterandpaul.co.uk/. Unfortunately I can't find it in my records who printed the project.

 

Interestingly, this project was the overall winner in the 2001 DesignWeek awards in the Print Design category. Interestingly this piece won the award over a commended entry by The Partners and other shortlisted entries from Pentagram, GBH, Addison, Salter Baxter and Lippa Pearce ...and I still have the awards supplement!

The fact that it won the overall winner is testament to this piece of print design. As it says in the DesignWeek awards supplement 'Bright colours and bold typography gives the design direct impact, appropriate for the student market  - who said charity work had to look worthy?'

 

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/

http://www.satradingco.org/

http://www.peterandpaul.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.04.2014