ROH Christmas card

This is the Christmas card produced for the Royal Opera House. The 4pp card is A5 size (210x148mm) portrait. The brief was to create a Christmas card that showed a variety of work done by the ROH over the year...

Graphic Designer at the ROH, Ana Peres, collated three pictures showing The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. The captions for the original pictures are: 

1. Artists of The Royal Ballet in Untouchable in The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage. 

2. Jonathan McGovern in Apollo and Daphne in 4/4, The Royal Opera.

3. Artists of The Royal Ballet in Within the Golden Hour in The Royal Ballet: Back on Stage.

All images ©ROH. All photographs by Tristram Kenton.

Above is a detail image showing the composite mono image. The card is printed in 1 colour (black) on a toner based digital press. The festive look of the final picture is completed with the sparkles of the paper as it is printed on our Stardream, Crystal 285gsm...

Below is an image showing the plain unprinted Stardream,Crystal:

Printing was handled by Indicia.

It is a really well designed, simple and cost effective solution with great impact. Thanks to Ana for the images and information about the project.

https://www.roh.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.11.2024

Jobs from the past - Number 175

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 nine years ago. 

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition invitation - 2015

For 247 years, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition has offered a snapshot of contemporary art – and this year’s exhibition is a riot of colour, variety and discovery with over 1,100 works. This year, the exhibition is co-ordinated by Michael Craig-Martin RA – a leading artist of his generation and the teacher who nurtured the talents of Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst. This year's choice was made from over 12,000 entries!

The Summer Exhibition is the world’s oldest open-submission exhibition: its earliest exhibitors included the likes of Reynolds, Constable and Turner.

This is the invitation to the private view on the 3rd June. In line with the exhibition's "vibrant summer of colour" theme, it is a very striking and colourful invitation.

Click on images to enlarge

Size is A5 Portrait (210x148mm). As I hope you will be able to tell from the image above, it has a pearlescent effect and this is because it is printed on Stardream Crystal, which is our pearlescent and metallic range ( ...in fact it's the largest pearlescent and metallic range on the market!). What many people don't realise is that printing a solid colour onto a pearlescent board results in the solid having a pearlescent effect - this is because litho inks are transparent.

The invitations are printed offset litho using pantone special colours (three colours) and it really does convey a riot of colour.

The Stardream Crystal 120gsm has been pasted onto a 1500micron mount board which has then been edge coloured in the matching vibrant yellow. The result is superb.

Art direction and design is by Constanza Gaggero, at her London studio Gaggero Works. Print is by Basingstoke based Liquorice Press.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/
http://www.gaggeroworks.co.uk/
http://www.theliquoricepress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.06.2024

Jobs from the past - Number 165

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 2014...

Sopianae Brand Book - 2014

This project is a brandbook for Sopianae, which is the most well known cigarette brand in Hungary. This book covers the history and culture of the brand whilst explaining the relationship with the Rountable Agency who are their brand communication consultancy.

It is a very large book at 415mmx260mm! It comes with a slipcase and the whole print package is superb and made extra special by the binding.

Click on images to enlarge

This is generally described as 'Japanese Binding' as it is in the Size|Format|Stock pamphlet that I wrote, although as I've pointed out in the same publication, terminology is certainly not universal - I doubt if they call this Japanese binding in Japan!

The cover is formed by a 2mm greyboard which is silkscreened in three colours and mounted on the cover. The 64pp text is on a mixture of an uncoated ivory coloured paper (unknown) and our Stardream Crystal 120gsm from Cordenons in Italy.

Now what has made this project particularly worthy of note is that there were not that many copies produced, so in the main, this job was produced on a digital press (HP Indigo). However because of some of the 'throw outs' - such as below, some of the pages had to be printed offset litho as the format of the digital press (in this case SRA3) wasn't large enough.

So the clever thing, from a print point of view, was to get the litho and digital sheets to match! not that easy to do but the end result is superb - as you can see below digital meets litho on the same spread.

Click on images to enlarge

The other thing that makes it slightly less complicated is that Stardream is kept in stock as HP Indigo ready, as well as the sheets for offset litho.

Stardream is a pearlescent and metallic range which shimmers and the pic below may give some idea of how it looks:

Design is by the Roundtable Agency by Head of Art, Franco Reda.

Printing and the terrific binding (at their own Bindery - Wayte Binding) all achieved in house is by Identity Printers in Paddock Wood. They truly have excelled.

https://www.roundtableagency.co.uk/
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.08.2023

Stardream - print processes book

Stardream is a market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many designers and printers have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

This is the new "Print Processes book" which demonstrates the wide variety of print processes that you can achieve using this paper range.

The cover image is printed offset litho in CMYK on Stardream Copper 285gsm and the result is stunning - just look how good a CMYK image can look, even on a relatively deep shade such as the Copper. What many people forget is the litho inks are transparent, what this means is that if you print on a colour, the colour will come through and it also means that if you print on a pearlescent/metallic substrate, the printed result will be pearlescent/metallic and take on the shimmer of the surface printed on.

The size of the presenter is 230x220mm and the wiro-bound inserts are 210mm square. The first page is hot foil blocked using Foilco Ref 6815 copper foil on Stardream Anthracite 285gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Page two is is printed using Thermographic printing (thermography) in red and black.

Thermo (as it is commonly called) is a great process and can produce a gloss or matt raised surface. In this instance, the result is a gloss finish, printed on Stardream Rose Quartz 120gsm

Stardream is also suitable for digital print processes and the below rainbow image is printed on Stradream Crystal Digital 240gsm on an HP Indigo Press

The next page is french folded and is lasercut...

Click on images to enlarge

The sample printed on the Stardream Silver (above & below) is just the most simple and yet effective sample. It is printed in just 1 colour offset litho as a halftone (or some people refer to it as a montone) and as mentioned before, because litho inks are transparent, the printed result is pearlescent/metallic and takes on the shimmer of the Stardream surface.

and the grand finale of the book, really is amazing at is is the simplest, yet crazily effective process. The below watchface is digitally printed in white using a dry toner press (this was a Ricoh)

...and here is a detail image

...and below shows the deep blue colour (Stardream Lapislazuli 285gsm) that it was printed on.

Digital white (toner) is an incredibly stunning effect and a very economical price, so it's definitely worth looking into.

My thanks to the paper mill, Gruppo Cordenons for supplying us with the tools to show the Stardream range in the very best light. If you would like one of these new books, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.05.2022

Paper leaves...

At present, there aren't many good news stories in retail, however today (yes, today!) the US fashion and lifestyle brand Anthropologie opened a new store in the ancient university city of Cambridge. Anthropologie was founded in Pennsylvania, in 1992 and now operates over 230 stores worldwide, 15 of which are in the UK.

For the opening of the new store, the Anthropologie windows and interior of the store were dressed in bright Spring/Summer leaves which were all laser cut using Fenner Paper! We supplied a mixture of our Stardream (pearlescent board) and our Colorset 100% Recycled board - which were laser cut by Patternise and then hand assembled by Anthropologie’s window display team into these beautiful displays. The result is simply amazing - and plastic free!

The materials were chosen after testing the board for lasercutting at the studio. Patternise are based in Cranleigh, 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.

Here are detail images 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.

With thanks to the team at Anthropologie for the images and to Rob at Patternise for the technical information.

https://www.anthropologie.com/ 

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2021

Stardream Print Processes book

Stardream is a market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many designers and printers have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

This is the new "Print Processes book" which demonstrates the wide variety of print processes that you can achieve using this paper range.

The cover image is printed offset litho in CMYK on Stardream Copper 285gsm and the result is stunning - just look how good a CMYK image can look, even on a relatively deep shade such as the Copper. What many people forget is the litho inks are transparent, what this means is that if you print on a colour, the colour will come through and it also means that if you print on a pearlescent/metallic substrate, the printed result will be pearlescent/metallic and take on the shimmer of the surface printed on.

The size of the presenter is 230x220mm and the wiro-bound inserts are 210mm square. The first page is hot foil blocked using Foilco Ref 6815 copper foil on Stardream Anthracite 285gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Page two is is printed using Thermographic printing (thermography) in red and black.

Thermo (as it is commonly called) is a great process and can produce a gloss or matt raised surface. In this instance, the result is a gloss finish, printed on Stardream Rose Quartz 120gsm

Stardream is also suitable for digital print processes and the below rainbow image is printed on Stradream Crystal Digital 240gsm on an HP Indigo Press

The next page is french folded and is lasercut...

Click on images to enlarge

The sample printed on the Stardream Silver (above & below) is just the most simple and yet effective sample. It is printed in just 1 colour offset litho as a halftone (or some people refer to it as a montone) and as mentioned before, because litho inks are transparent, the printed result is pearlescent/metallic and takes on the shimmer of the Stardream surface.

and the grand finale of the book, really is amazing at is is the simplest, yet crazily effective process. The below watchface is digitally printed in white using a dry toner press (this was a Ricoh)

...and here is a detail image

...and below shows the deep blue colour (Stardream Lapislazuli 285gsm) that it was printed on.

Digital white (toner) is an incredibly stunning effect and a very economical price, so it's definitely worth looking into.

My thanks to the paper mill, Gruppo Cordenons for supplying us with the tools to show the Stardream range in the very best light. If you would like one of these new books, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.06.2020

Stardream

Stardream is Europe's market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many people have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, Invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

As well as being available in the 32 shades, all items are available in 120gsm and 285gsm with some of the most popular items also available in 340gsm board and a 110gsm one sided (particularly used for luxury packaging - paper over board boxes and casebound covers).

Click on images to enlarge

The range was expressly created so that the designer and printer can add an extra dimension to work, whilst the sophisticated range of colours enables the latest fashion and colour trends to be followed.

A new 'printed processes' book for Stardream has just been produced to demonstrate the wide variety of different print processes that can be used on this paper with great effect.

Processes used are hot foil blocking, thermography, lasercutting, digital printing (HP Indigo and Toner based) including white toner. The cover is particularly striking, being printed CMYK onto Stardream Copper and it looks stunning.

You can see the whole range here: http://www.cordenons.co.uk/. If you would like to receive a swatch or one of the new Stardream process books, just email me (justin@fennerpaper.co.uk) and I'll pop one in the post.

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/ 
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2020