Portraits of the Hibakusha

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. Today marks the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the first Atom bomb on Hiroshima. The bombing, which took place in 1945 was to bring a speedy end to the second world war against Japan. The anniversary is remembered through ceremonies, and leaders from Japan and around the world have used the occasion to call for the abolition of nuclear weapons and peace.

It reminded me of this beautiful project from 2010 for an exhibition in London held on the 65th anniversary... (my apologies for the poor images - it is hard to photograph this piece well!)

THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha

THE LIGHT - Portraits of the Hibakusha - was an exhibition which ran from the 5th August- 8th October at the Brunei Gallery at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London in 2010.

The subject of the exhibitions is as follows: At 00.15am on the 6th August 2010 in London it will be 08.15am in Hiroshima and it will have been 65 years since ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima by the USA’s B-29 bomber ‘Enola Gay’. The exhibition of the 65 Hibakusha portrait paintings will last for 65 days, one for each year since the bombs were dropped on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Each painting will be accompanied by a detailed description of each subject’s haunting recollection of exactly how they came to survive and be found after the bombing.

Hibakusha are survivors of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese word translates literally to “bomb affected people”. There are no names on any of the Hibakusha Portraits as is the tradition in Japan all are ‘subjects’ and always remain unnamed.

This beautiful poster/invitation/promotional piece was designed by Leah Harrison Bailey and Sara Carneholm at their studio called Happily Ever After, which sadly they disbanded in around 2014. 

Below is the finished (folded up) piece which is A5 size:

- which then folds out like so...

To reveal the final piece...

The open size is 592x420mm. The job is printed on our beatifully thin and lightweight Offenbach Bible in 60gsm. It was printed and finished by Pureprint, who have produced this really well - not only the print but the very tricksy folding!

...and thanks to Leah and Sara for sending it to me and for the lovely note - yes, it certainly is a blogworthy piece! in fact, so good it's been on twice now!

https://www.soas.ac.uk/
https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.08.2025

Jobs from the past - Number 178

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 - this project is from 2011, even though it is titled 2016!

Knight Frank - London 2016

This is a fascinating and beautifully produced book commissioned by leading international property consultancy, Knight Frank to visually communicate their predictions for London's commercial property market, in a project titled 'London 2016'.

Five years doesn't seen too far away, but the invitation to their September conference is worded as follows:
"In 2006, no one owned an iphone, Lehman Brothers' market capitalisation was $40 Billion and Bear Stearns' was $20 Billion, Iceland had a triple A credit rating, Twitter signed up it's 50th tweeter in July - think how different the world will be in five years time..."
(...that makes you think!)

Knight Frank commissioned London based agency YCN to produce the conference collateral, including this specially produced book to be given as a take-home pieces for select clients detailing the company's view of London in five years time.

The size of the book is 185x245mm, portrait. It is printed on SHIRO Echo, White (100% recycled) which has a "natural" off white shade and works well with the illustration and text. The book is made using two text weights 160gsm for the three throw-out pages and 100gsm for the main text made up of 45 "French Folded" sections.

The casebound book is covered in dark grey bookcloth and is hot foil blocked in silver.

All the text is "French Folded" as you can see below:

The creative team at YCN on the project is as follows:

Project Director: Alex Ostrowski

Art Direction & Design: Alex Hunting

The text features illustrations by Samuel Green and infographics by Chris Clarke

...and particularly remarkable (other than the paper, of course!) is that the job has been printed digitally by Pureprint on an HP Indigo press and the result is just superb. The solid colours alone compete with the quality achievable with offset litho. Simon Cooper at Pureprint handled the project.

 ...and a lovely touch is the rubber stamp used to personalise and number each of the 150 copies:

https://www.knightfrank.co.uk/
https://agency.ycnonline.com/
https://www.chris-clarke.co.uk/
https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted bu Justin Hobson 04.09.2024

The Bamford Haybarn

The Bamford brand is associated with a philosophy of natural ingredients. Having originally started with organic farming, the founder, Lady Bamford, embarked on a range of clothing from only natural fibres and purest bodycare from organic and botanical ingredients together.  Haybarn is the Bamford Spa and treatments brand and they have facilities at Daylesford and a few other exclusive locations.

 

This brochure has been produced by Sinéad Madden for the Bamford Haybarn at the Berkeley health club and spa at the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge.

To convey the natural materials and ingredients used at the spa, the 4pp cover is embossed with a wood grain embossing ( ...printed on a well known text and cover from a Hull based paper merchant!). The brochure is 210mm square. The 64pp text is printed on our Omnia 150gsm, which has reproduced the images beautifully, whilst having that uncoated, tactile feel which the cover conveys.

Click on images to enlarge

There are 16pp of full size pages in the first section and the remaining 48pp appear in seven shorter sections, creating a divider feeling.

Each of the divider pages are printed with different wood grain effects to work with the embossing on the front cover.

The brochure is PUR bound and the overall spine thickness is 7mm.

The publication is printed CMYK, Offset Litho. The Omnia prints superbly and the fleshtones, which are notoriously difficult to reproduce well, look exquisite.

Design and art direction is by Sinéad Madden who runs her studio in London. This is a beautifully designed and luxurious publication. Print is by Pureprint.

 

http://bamford.co.uk/spa-locations/bamford-haybarn-at-the-berkeley/
http://www.the-berkeley.co.uk/health-club-and-spa/

http://www.sinead.de/

www.pureprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.05.2024

Beaming

This is a really lovely piece of sales literature designed to work as a handout or a mailing piece. It has a lovely quality feel and is produced with high production values which show throughout.

Beaming is an established Internet Service Provider for businesses across the UK. They deliver reliable voice and data services and provide ongoing support ...and they're not afraid to say that they think they're the best!

The finished size is 210x128mm, portrait and the content is 12pp. Below is a birdseye view showing the way that it opens in the conventional way...

...and the below image shows the way the 8pp inner "text" concertina's into a 4pp "cover" which has been formed by parallel creases.

 ...and below is the parallel crease which forms the spine

Spine, as below (without the inner pages concertina'd inside)

The flat size is 210 x 760mm and below shows the outside, spread flat...

...and the inside

The material chosen for the publication is our Omnia in 200gsm and is printed offset litho in CMYK. For those readers not familiar with Omnia, it is an uncoated paper with a surface treatment. What this means is that it feels like an uncoated paper but because the surface treatment minimises 'dot-gain', the print result is much more like that of a coated silk or gloss coated paper. You can see the result - the solid red looks so vibrant and the tactile quality really works with the illustrations. Omnia also has a high bulk, so although this is only a 12pp it feels much more substantial.

It is a simple format and because it has been produced and finished superbly, it is beautiful. The publication is designed by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne. The excellent printing and finishing is by Pureprint.

https://www.beaming.co.uk/
https://playnedesign.co.uk/
https://www.pureprint.com/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.03.2024

Manuel Canovas

This is the gorgeous brochure for the Trianon Collection from luxury brand Manuel Canovas, based in Paris. Trianon is a range of wallpapers and fabrics based on paintings, drawn in Chinoiserie style, by Jean-Baptiste Pillement in the 18th Century.

The size of the publication is 240mm x 170mm, portrait and is saddle stitched, printed on our StarFine White. 4pp cover on 300gsm and 8pp text on 200gsm. Printed CMYK offset litho and hot foil blocked in gold metallic foil on the cover.

StarFine is a quality, uncoated paper and as the images show, image reproduction is excellent. The detail of the wallpaper and fabrics is stunning - great detail for an uncoated paper, colours are bright and vivid.

The brass wire used for the saddle stitches is a really lovely touch - which brilliantly compliments the gold foiling on the cover.

Click on image to enlarge

Manuel Canovas is one of the Colefax group brands and this beautiful piece of literature has been created in house at Colefax & Fowler. Print production is by Pureprint

https://www.manuelcanovas.com/
https://www.colefax.com/
https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.08.2023

McQ Women

McQ, is the contemporary brand from Alexander McQueen which takes inspiration from street culture "evoking the varied and ever-evolving style tribes that spring up around Britain’s rich music and art scenes. Drawing on references from uniform and the military, core staples of the British wardrobe are re-imagined each season in new guises. Traditional techniques are used in contemporary ways, creating pieces that are both functional and beautiful"

Creative Director of Alexander McQueen and McQ is Sarah Burton. This is the season's lookbook for women.

The size of the publication is 450x320mm, portrait and is a 12pp self cover. It is printed on our lightweight Offenbach Bible 60gsm and is a beautifully designed piece of literature.

The lookbook is printed in four colour offset litho and is a superb example of printing on Offenbach Bible - superb solid coverage and deep monochrome images reproduced in CMYK.

Click on images to enlarge

Due to the lightweight nature of the paper it just flops beautifully, with a bewitching feel.

Design and art direction is by Rupert Smith who is a freelance art director based in London. This is an elegant and splendidly produced publication. To get these dark images to look this good on an uncoated paper is a real achievement. Print is by Rob Squires at Pureprint.

https://my.mcq.com

https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.07.2023