When does a rainbow become an Amazebow?

Earlier in the year Superunion designers from around the world came together to create a colouring book for girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

During the dark days of the first lockdown we were asked by Superunion to collaborate on a colouring book project  Superunion had partnered with I Can Be, a children's charity that breaks down barriers to future opportunities for disadvantaged girls, to create Amazebows, a colouring book designed to remind young girls of their potential and to help them realise the power of their imagination. With 24 unique illustrations created by Superunion creatives from around the world, from Brazil to Singapore, Amazebows shows the girls that something even as predefined as a rainbow can be reimagined.

Initially the project was the idea of  Leanne Kitchen, Stuart Radford, Scott Lambert, Louise Hunter and Inga Howell, the key to the idea was the collaboration with the global network of Superunion creatives. The brief to each creative was left entirely open, to reimagine the rainbow, asking only to include the seven familiar coloured stripes of the rainbow, which start and finish on two sides of the page.

Amazebows was produced pro-bono, sponsored and printed by Identity Print and Fenner Paper, to help girls with no access to online schooling or tools during lockdown. The 200 colouring books were singer sewn with thread to match one of the seven colours of the rainbow as you can see in the below image...

The superb singer sewing was produced by Wayte Fine Binding, who are Identity's own bindery.

Along with each book, the Superunion team gave every girl, rainbow coloured pencils in an origami paper sleeve...

Leanne Kitchen said: "Working with I Can Be during lockdown was really important to us, helping them to reach out to the girls they work with and spread their message to children in those really difficult times. With this in mind, we wanted to build on the familiar symbol of hope, simply allowing their imaginations to explore the idea that if a rainbow can be anything, so can they. We'd created such an open brief, with only a couple of compositional guidelines, so that creatives across our network could really inspire the girls to continue to imagine their own possibilities. This charming objective led to some beautifully unexpected illustrations for the colouring book and brought many of our creatives together at a time of isolation. We're also very grateful to have partnered with Identity Print and Fenner Paper to produce Amazebows, who have been integral in enabling the team to gift a physical colouring book to each of the girls."

It was a superb project to be involved with and is the result of amazing collaboration.

https://www.icanbe.org.uk/

https://www.superunion.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.12.2020

Naomi's Poem

This project is a collaboration between Tom Sharp – poet, writer and founder of The Poetry of it all and Katherina Tudball, Creative Director at Superunion

In a limited edition of 200 copies, the publication confronts some cliff-edge health news Tom’s sister received in August last year. Through poetry, Tom began documenting the siblings’ emotional journey – as fears, nostalgia, regrets and love became the focus of their conversations.

The size of the book is 230x100mm, portrait.The only immediately readable type is the title and a short introduction on the inside front cover (above)

...as each section of the poem is bound within a French-folded text printed on our lightweight Offenbach Bible 60gsm, meaning that it is hidden from sight and requires the reader to tear the paper in order to read. Below you can see the torn pages revealing the poem.

Click on images to enlarge

‘Naomi’s Poem’, is a single epistolary poem in twelve sections, shared between brother and sister as part of a therapeutic creative conversation.

The text is made from 12x 4pp French folded sections. Below shows one unopened book and one with the torn pages...

Rich with drowning imagery, the poetry is set in 8pt Doves Type, the typeface famously lost under the waters of the Thames for 100 years before being rescued and accurately recreated by Robert Green.

The truly amazing binding is stitching that mirrors surgical patterns. As part of the design process, Katherina and Tom consulted with Fleur Oakes, Imperial College’s Vascular Surgery Department’s Lacemaker in Residence.

Click on images to enlarge

The printing, finishing and binding is by Boss Print who are based in West London and it is truly superb - yes, they managed to sew the book like this! The text is all printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm and the cover is printed on Colorset Natural 270gsm

This is a highly personal project which has been produced in a truly amazing way. I am very grateful to have received my copy - No 172 of 200.

https://www.superunion.com/
https://www.thepoetryofitall.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.06.2019