ArjoWiggins Paper Mills go into Administration

There is very sad news that ArjoWiggins, part of the Creative Papers division of parent company Sequana has placed all of it's manufacturing mills into administration. There are three paper mills in France employing over 900 people and two mills in the UK plus other subsidiaries employing over 600 people.

It shows what a bad state the paper manufacturing world is in. The combination of decreasing demand and higher energy and raw material costs including both pulp and chemicals means that all manufacturers are having a rough time. If a buyer or buyers for the individual mills are not found, then the mills may be closed down.

Antalis is a separate listed company but a majority shareholding is held by Sequana. At present, Antalis is unaffected, although they are the exclusive UK stockists of many of those brands made by the ArjoWiggins mills, including Curious, Cyclus, Olin, Keaykolour, Popset etc. (all are registered trademarks of ArjoWiggins Fine Papers).

As a result of this situation there may well be shortages for some of these papers. At Fenner Paper, we are increasing our stockholding, especially of our Stardream range (which is a competitor product to Curious Metallics) and our Colorset text and cover range.

If you would like to read more about the current situation, here are some links:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/article-6594037/Hundreds-jobs-risk-paper-owner-enters-administration.html

https://www.printweek.com/print-week/news/1166595/arjowiggins-uk-businesses-enter-administration

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.01.2019

Stardream for Christmas

November is here, so we can now talk about Christmas!

Lilac Linnet Creative is the retail facing brand of Patternise Laser Studio Ltd, who specialise in laser cutting for prestigious clients and brands, such as Disney, Cath Kidston, Warner Music and Morrisons to name a few.

Lilac Linnet have created a range of unique Christmas decorations - all lasercut out of board, so they far more environmentally friendly than plastic.They have a real wow factor for guests at any winter gathering, be it a home event, a wonderland wedding or festive corporate party.

All Christmas decorations have been designed and manufactured by Lilac Linnet and they offer a range of standard colour schemes including traditional reds and greens, sparkling whites and blues, and bold purples and golds....and all the designs are manufactured from our Stardream pearlescent and metallic range!

You can even order them directly on line here: www.lilaclinnet.co.uk

www.cordenons.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.11.2018

Lino King

When I started writing this blog back in 2009, it was because I wanted to share printed projects (mainly on our papers) with a wider audience than I can ever hope to visit personally. As this blog has evolved over time, a rewarding aspect has been showing work which has then inspired designers working in other areas. For example I have had a designer working in fashion promotion tell me they have been inspired by an article about a property brochure ... that's a satisfying feeling!

This project I believe will be one of those that will be of interest to all readers as it combines superb design, digital technology, hand embossing and wonderful use of colour.

Ashley Hutchinson is the designer and printmaker behind Ash Leaf Printmaking Studio. He produces limited edition lino and wood cut prints with a twist, as he incorporates embossing into all of his designs. All of the prints are embossed by hand using his three etching presses including his 1920s proofing press 'GEM'. Ash has been designing and publishing contemporary greeting cards for over 10 years.

This range of eight cards is called the Stardust Floral range. They are all printed on our Stardream range of pearlescent and metallic papers in 285gsm. Colours used are Opal, Rose Quartz, Lagoon, Vista, Azalea, Citrine, Fine Gold and Flame. Stardream is made by Gruppo Cordenons in Italy.

The 4pp cards are 145mm square

Showing anything in relief with my limited photographic abilities is hard, so it's easier for me to show the card printed on Stardream Opal 285gsm above ...and the inside of the same card below:

The embossing of the designs is truly outstanding but you'll have to take my word for it. It's also the colour combination of this range which I find so inspiring...

Production at Linoking is all in house. Printing is on a Canon inkjet printer and they are hand embossed.

As I mentioned earlier, the colour combinations is something I find inspiring - this purply/blue shade printed on the Stardream Azalea (below) is stupendous.

Sarah Glennie is my colleague who deals with our products that we sell into this market. The greeting card "industry" is quite a separate area of the creative world. It's interesting to me that there is so little crossover between the "corporate" design for print market and greeting card publishers who are responsible for putting the cards on the shelves in our shops around the country.

...anyway, I hope this article will inspire all creatives out there!

https://www.ashleafprintmaking.co.uk/stardust-floral-range
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.06.2017

Patternise 3-D model Christmas Card

A Christmas card that is also a 3-D model!

Patternise is a company based in Uckfield, East Sussex, who specialise in offering 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 ...and this is their lovely Christmas card:

The card is an A5 (148x210mm) tent format and hot foil blocked and digitally printed (HP Indigo) on our Stardream Crystal 285gsm from Gruppo Cordenons. As you can see from the image above, there is a self assembly push out reindeer model, which is superb!

Image showing the inside of the card...

Click on images to enlarge

Patternise use state of the art laser cutters from Trotec and they specialise in cutting “clean” materials such as fine papers, cards, acrylics and plastics (PP/PET). One of the things that particularly impressed me about this card is that the type and signatures are not printed, they are laser engraved. This is a fantastic process and can add a completely different dimension to printed literature.

The card is produced using their brand new "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. This whole card was cut and engraved in 24 seconds!

I urge you to watch this quick video showing the laser process - it's only one minute long:

Reverse of the card, which shows the unprinted Stardream Crystal with it's superb pearlescent shimmer....

 ..and here is the Reindeer that I made:

Patternise are based in Uckfield, East Sussex. This is a lovely card, a brilliant promotional item and a fantastic example of the creative uses of lasercutting and laser engraving and of course our Stardream board as well! With thanks to the team at Patternise.

www.patternise.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.12.2016

Wedding Invitation with a 14 carat flower

This is an exceptionally special invitation produced by Adorn, a wedding invitation specialists based in London. The ceremony was to be held in California and the invitations were entirely bespoke, created for Vanessa and Jim. Vanessa Williams is an American actress and Adorn went through an 'inspiration' process to discover what was important to the couple, to establish ideas which Adorn could then turn into reality.

The stationery set included a wedding invitation card, RSVP cards, security information card, accommodation information, custom envelopes for invitations and reply cards and place cards. The centrepiece of the set is the metallic gold lasercut 'gate' that surrounds the main printed invitation card, which was produced using Stardream Gold, 285gsm.

The above image shows the intricate details being lasercut.

During the inspiration process at Adorn, they discovered that the lotus flower had a really special meaning in the couple's relationship. The flower has a strong presence in new age spirituality and signifies new beginnings and luck. Jim had engraved the lotus flower on their engagement bands so Adorn decided that this detailing needed to be on the invitation. They designed and laser cut a 14k gold plated lotus flower that was hand applied to every invitation as you can see in the image below.

Clearly the happy couple were very pleased with the finished result and the wedding went well in the California sunshine. The feedback has been so favourable, that Adorn have agreed with Vanessa Williams to put her design into production which will make it affordable to everyday couples

...but without the 14 carat gold plated décor!

You can read more about the project here:

https://www.adorninvitations.co.uk/blog/vanessa-williams-wedding-invitations-design/

http://vanessawilliams.com/

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/

https://www.adorninvitations.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.05.2016

It's my birthday!

I have to say a big thank you to Claire Vincent at card publisher, Love Poppet for my lovely personalised card which arrived on my birthday.

Not only is the design wonderful, it is printed on our lovely Stardream Silver 285gsm and Colorset Light Blue 120gsm. Size of the card is A5 and as you can see, it is also round cornered.

You can see Claire's work ( ...and buy cards!) here:
http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/partners/lovepoppet/products

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.04.2016

Primark - Winter 2015

Adored by fashion fans and value seekers alike Primark is widely established as the destination store for keeping up with the latest looks without breaking the bank. They offer a diverse range of products, stocking everything from baby and kids, to womens, mens, home ware, accessories, beauty products and confectionery. Primark opened its first store in Dublin in 1969 under the name Penneys and today operates in over 270 stores in nine countries in Europe and growing with the first US store opening in Boston last year.

This is the lookbook produced for the Winter/Christmas 2015 season and there's only one word for it and that's STUNNING!

Size of the brochure is 250x180mm, portrait and the binding is singer sewing. The unusual format is a 4pp cover printed in CMYK, offset litho, onto our Stardream Copper 285gsm. Through die cut holes, you can see the inner 'flysheet' which is hot foil blocked with metallic gold foil, printed on Stardream Onyx 120gsm.

Stardream is the market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy and the colours are striking.

You can see the fine quality of the image printed onto the Stardream Copper. Many people forget that litho inks are transparent, meaning that the image will take up both the colour and the pearlescent effect, and when used well like this, it is just stunning.  

The 36pp text is printed in four colour process (offset litho) on Shiro Echo, White 120gsm and the printed result is exquisite. Is it the quality of the image, the repro, the printing or the paper? Well the honest answer has to be it's all of them

As you will see from the picture below, the men's range is also includes going from the back cover towards the spine

Images showing the detail of the singer sewn spine:

...and the inside

Primark's international Headquarters are in Dublin and the UK offices are in London. Art direction and design is by London creative agency Odd. The superb print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin Colournet, based in London E3.

http://www.primark.com/en/homepage
http://www.oddlondon.com/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.02.2016

787 and you...

At the end of last year, Virgin Atlantic launched their Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Currently they operate four 787s and by the end of 2015, there will be nine in the fleet.

This is a big commitment for the airline and in order to make sure that all crew and staff are 'on board' and fully informed about the new aircraft, they produced this charming little book.

Click on images to enlarge

Size of the booklet is A6 (148x105mm) portrait, with an 8pp cover and 20pp text and is saddle stitched. The cover is hot foil blocked in metallic gold foil, with a filigree type pattern. The below image shows the amazingly detailed hot foil blocking.

The materials chosen for this book is our Stardream from Cordenons. The 8pp cover is foiled on Stardream Bronze 285gsm and the 20pp text is printed offset litho in two colours on Stardream Crystal 120gsm.

The materials were specifically chosen with the aircraft in mind. The Stardream Bronze used for the cover is an excellent match for the materials used on the outer shells of the seats (in Upper Class) and the text pages are a good match for the pearlescent finish used in Upper Class bar area.

A point I should like to make here is just how important a piece of employee engagement literature, such as this, can be. Many organisations rely on powerpoint presentations, pdf's or even photocopied sheets for their internal communications. By producing this type of well designed, engaging publication, Virgin Atlantic demonstrate their professionalism and dedication to staff involvement.  

There are some superb 'thumbnail' illustrations on the text pages:

The brass wire used for the saddle stitching works beautifully with the gold foiling on the cover. A well considered detail....

If your finisher or printer tries to tell you that they can't get different coloured wire, or if they seem reluctant to use anything other than steel, I suggest you get in contact with these people: http://www.primewire.co.uk/

Above is 'birds eye' view showing 8pp cover. On the right hand side, there is an image showing the three stitches on the inside (centre spread). Generally, a project with an 8pp cover requires the text to be stitched with a 'security stitch' in the middle of the book and the text is then trimmed to size. The 8pp cover is then attached with two stitches in the normal position.

Below image shows the detail of the outside back cover.

Design is by the Virgin Atlantic in-house Design Team and Nik Lusardi is the Design Manager. Designer on this project is freelance designer Val Kildea and thanks to Val for sending me a copy.

Print production is by Hampton Printing based in Bristol and they have made a stunning job of the foiling and print.

http://www.virgin-atlantic.com/gb/en/the-virgin-experience/787.html
http://www.hampton-printing.co.uk/
http://www.vtype.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.08.2015