Light/Rock #4

Founded in 2008 by Adrian Strittmatter and Andreas Fux, Saentys now has offices in London, Paris, Lyon, Geneva and Zurich and are a leading specialist in bespoke destination marketing. Every so often, they produce a customer focused publication looking at projects, case studies, trends etc. and this is the latest superbly produced edition, produced at the end of last year...

Size is 330x240mm, portrait and is 6 hole sewn! with a 4pp cover and 48pp text. 

Click on images to enlarge

Following the introduction is a news section

Each section is separated by black divider spreads.

The paper used is our Omnia - 200gsm on the cover and 120gsm for the text. The reason that Omnia was chosen is because it would beautifully reproduce the photography with the rich imagery of locations, the solid blacks and dark, detailed images. Of course the most important thing is for the publication to be special - with the reproduction that you would expect on a silk or gloss but with a natural tactile uncoated feel.

The Omnia 120gsm is a bulky sheet, although it flows beautifully in the hand. The use of a 200gsm for a cover, would often be considered too light, until I tell you that Omnia 200gsm is 280 microns thick!

Click on images to enlarge

The below image shows half of the binding...

This type of binding is generally known as 'three hole sewn' - because there are three holes, the thread comes out of the middle up and into the top hole, down the inside of the book out of the middle hole again and now down to the lower hole and in again up the inside of the book to the middle hole, where it is knotted. In this case, there are two banks of three hole sewing, which holds the text and cover very securely. The below image shows the centre spread, where you can see both of the binding threads...

Centre spread...

Omnia has a dead matt, tactile feel but with great reproduction. All printed offset litho throughout. The publication has a fantastic feel - solid flat areas of colour work amazingly well - as you can see in the images below, the solid rich deep blue and the light nude shade both look fantastic with no mottle or patchiness - in fact they are flawless solids...

Click on images to enlarge

The publication has a total thickness of 5mm, but even though Omnia is bulky, the 48pp sits nice and flat and doesn't 'gape' in the spine.

Design is by Saentys. The exceptional printing is all offset litho with production handled by Nick Stacey at Ctrl-P, a bespoke print studio based in London.

https://www.saentys.com/

https://ctrl-p.studio/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.06.2021

The Ink Art of China

Michael Goedhuis specialises in the best contemporary Asian and Western art. Their collection includes painting, sculpture, ink painting, bronzes and antiquities. They also represent contemporary artists and this catalogue shows the work of Ink Artists.

The size of the publication is 265x216mm, portrait with three hole sewn binding. It has a 4pp cover with 120mm flaps printed on a blue cover board from another well known Hull based paper merchant (!) with a 40pp text printed on Gardapat 13 Kiara 135gsm.

For readers not familiar with GardaPat 13, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt - some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't! Apart from the high quality matt surface, this paper has an extraordinarily high bulk - this 135gsm text with a thickness of 175mics. If you would like to read more about the bulk, you can read it here.

Click on images to enlarge

Detail of the 3 hole sewing in the centre spread...

The text is digitally printed using an HP Indigo digital press and the results are superb, beautifully showing the artworks. As many readers will know, many materials have to be "Sapphire Treated" to work successfully on HP Indigo presses, however this project has been printed without sapphire treatment. 

Detail showing the three hole sewing on the spine...

The 40pp text flows nicely in the hand, feeling substantial but not overly heavy. 

Click on images to enlarge

Design and Art Direction is by Ornan Rotem at Sylph Editions. Printing and the terrific finishing - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics, based in Paddock Wood in Kent. 

https://www.michaelgoedhuis.com/

http://www.sylpheditions.com/

www.zonegraphics.co.uk 

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.10.2020

The Weeping Cufflinks

This is the latest poetry publication from Tom Sharp and is described as "a capitalist folk-horror cautionary tale in the manner of a Jacobean pamphlet". It is designed and woodcut illustrated by Katherina Tudball. This is their third creative collaboration and a part of the Faery Fellers project.

Size is 230x145mm, portrait and is a 24pp self cover printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Below is centre spread. The binding is three hole sewn, in keeping with a style of binding that would have been familiar even in the 17th century ...before the invention of staples!

The below image shows the binding, using natural thread

Redeem 100% Recycled is a neutral white shade and is just perfect for this publication - many designers might have just used a cream paper, but this is just the right paper and really works superbly with the wonderful type and woodcut.

Detail of the woodcuts...

Click on images to enlarge

The below image shows the external image of the three hole sewing,

The printing, finishing and binding is by Boss Print who are based in Acton, West London. The edition is 1000 copies and you can buy a copy here.

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.04.2020

Wei Ligang

Michael Goedhuis specialises in the best contemporary Asian and Western art. Their collection includes painting, sculpture, ink painting, bronzes and antiquities. They also represent contemporary artists and this brochure is for one such Chinese artist - Wei Ligang.

The size of the publication is 265x216mm, portrait with three hole sewn binding. It has a 4pp cover with 120mm flaps printed on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Dark Grey 270gsm and a 28pp text printed on Gardapat 13 Bianka 150gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

For readers not familiar with GardaPat 13, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt - some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't! Apart from the high quality matt surface, this paper has an extraordinarily high bulk - this 150gsm text with a thickness of nearly 200mics. If you would like to read more about the bulk, you can read it here.


Centre spread...

Detail image showing the exceptional reproduction and three hole sewing...

The text is digitally printed using an HP Indigo digital press and the results are superb, beautifully showing the artworks. As many readers will know, many materials have to be "Sapphire Treated" to work successfully on HP Indigo presses, however this project has been printed without sapphire treatment.

Click on images to enlarge

The 28pp text flows nicely in the hand, feeling substantial but not overly heavy.

Detail of the three hole sewing on the spine......

Detail of the hot foil blocking on the outside front cover.

Design and Art Direction is by Ornan Rotem at Sylph Editions.

Printing and the terrific finishing - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics, based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

https://www.michaelgoedhuis.com/
http://www.sylpheditions.com/
www.zonegraphics.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.10.209

The Burlington Arcade

The Burlington Arcade in London dates back to 1819. Designed by Samuel Ware “for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles of fashionable demand, for the gratification of the public.” It was commissioned by Lord George Cavendish, Earl of Burlington and owner of the adjacent Burlington House, as a safe place for his wife and other genteel folk to shop. Today it continues that tradition, with a host of luxury shops.

"Just the cover makes the difference" is a phrase I've used many times on this blog about many projects where the cover "makes the difference" and this is just one of those projects. The cover is printed on one of our new Colorset shades - Charcoal in 350gsm.

Brochure size is 240x170mm, portrait. The outside cover is simply (but beautifully) hot foil blocked in a rose gold metallic foil - Foilco Ref 6037

There are some really nice features to this project. Firstly the brochure is encased in a bespoke envelope (250x180mm) made from the same material as the cover and is also hot foil blocked on the outside and a beautiful touch is the foiling on the inside of the flap. Quite an extensive area to foil but the Foilco Foil (6037) looks superb...

Another quality element is the three hole sewn binding, which is superbly done and holds the 16pp text securely in place. Identity Printers actually do this at their in-house bindery.

...and on the inside front and back covers the Burlington monogram is hot foil blocked in clear foil.

Detail showing the monogram

Just look at the precision of the scoring on the outside flap of the envelope. It gives the whole project a wonderful, quality feel.

Print and hot foiling is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood with Paul Martin handling the project.

https://www.burlingtonarcade.com/
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/
http://www.foilco.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.06.2019