Creative Print Launch

Today is World Environment Day. This event is the United Nations day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. Since it began in 1974, the event has grown to become a global platform for public outreach that is widely celebrated in over 100 countries. Above all, World Environment Day is the "people's day" for doing something to take care of the Earth. That "something" can be local, national or global. It can be a solo action or involve a crowd.

What better day for us to launch the latest addition to our range of recycled and environmentally friendly papers...

 

Creative Print is our new range of 100% recycled, uncoated text and cover materials. 

The paper has an uncoated, natural surface and is produced on the "Rolls Royce" of papermaking machines - a twin wire machine which ensures even-sidedness which improves printability over other inferior products. The range is available in two shades, Diamond and Champagne and the weight range is 90, 120, 170, 210, 270 and 350gsm.

 

Creative Print is manufactured by Euler in Germany, which is part of the Koehler Paper Group. The range carries the "Blue Angel" certification. Introduced in 1978, the Blue Angel scheme is the oldest ecolabel in the world, and it covers some 10,000 products in some 80 product categories. After the introduction of Germany's Blue Angel in 1978 as the first worldwide environmental label, other European and non-European countries followed this example and introduced their own national and supra-regional environmental labels. The common goal of these labels is to inform consumers about environmentally friendly products thereby giving global support to product-related environmental protection - perfect for highlighting on World Environment Day!

 If you would like a swatch of this new range, just drop me an email Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

 

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.06.2019

Jobs from the past - Number 116

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 2006.

Paul Smith Black A|W 2006

The Paul Smith Black collection combines luxurious tailoring, identified by its witty twist on classics with directional and modern seperates. for this season the collection takes it's inspiration from elegance of the transatlantic jet set traveller of the 1950's

This is the lookbook for the Autumn Winter collection. The finished size is A5 (210x148mm) portrait with a 4pp cover and 28pp text.printed on Omnia 320gsm and 150gsm.

 

Click on images to enlarge

The material chosen is our Omnia which gives it that dead matt, tactile feel but with great reproduction.

Click on images to enlarge

...and here's the plug for the paper!  - As you can see from these images, there is lots of colour and images with CMYK dark areas - loads of ink going down and it looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours, whilst retaining detail in the dark areas (in my opinion- but I would say that wouldn't I?) See the detail in the bag image below

The 28pp text flow nicely throughout the book...

Sewn sections and glued binding making a 3mm spine

Art Direction, design and production is by London design agency Aboud Sodano, which has sinec become Aboud + Aboud. The creative director on this project was Alan Aboud.  The piece has a fantastic feel - lots of space (just one image per spread) giving the publication an airy spacious feel - it is difficult for me to say too much more about it - the images speak for the job...

The superb print is by Generation Press.

https://www.paulsmith.com/uk

http://aboud-aboud.com/
https://generationpress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.06.2019

Arrows of love

This superb book was published to accompany the Quentin Blake exhibition titled Arrows of Love which took place last year at the House of Illustration. This was an exhibition of Quentin Blake’s rarely-seen nudes consisting of 18 exuberant pencil drawings depicting women avoiding or embracing Cupid’s arrow. The original works are pencil on paper and were drawn circa 1974.

Having opened on Valentine’s Day, this exhibition reveals Quentin Blake's personal reflections on the joy, folly and sorrow of love with his characteristic humour. You can read about the exhibition here.

The size of the book is 265x220mm, portrait and comprises of 64pp plus endpapers. The text pages are printed on our Omnia, Natural 120gsm which gives the book a 'toned' look but which sympathetically reproduces the pencil illustrations.

The books starts with arrows...

Click on images to enlarge

Click on images to enlarge

Click on images to enlarge

Birds eye view showing the sewn sections and the 'quarter bound' binding. Spine is 7mm

Detail showing reproduction of the pencil illustration....

This is a beautifully produced publication, which you can buy here. The excellent printing is by Jigsaw Colour who are based in Bermondsey, London

https://www.quentinblake.com/
http://www.houseofillustration.org.uk/home
http://www.jigsawcolour.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.05.2019

Shiro Echo is 100% Recycled Paper

Many readers will know of our lovely range of ecological papers from Favini called SHIRO. Favini is a paper manufacturer based in Italy with mills in Vicenza near the city of Venice and at Crusinallo. They have taken a lead in the utlisation of non wood pulps since the early 1990’s and they are the manufacturers of the SHIRO range.

With the demise of the ArjoWiggins recycled mills and with it the products Cyclus and Cocoon, many printers and designers have been turning to Shiro Echo as an alternative.

Shiro Echo is available in two shades; there is a white shade (which is a natural/off white) and similar to the old shade of Cyclus and a Bright White shade which is similar to the old Cocoon. It is 100% Recycled and also carries the FSC Recycled classification.

As you can see from the image below, we have good stock availability in the UK, in fact many, many tonnes!

You can see the range here.

If you would like a swatch, please email me Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2019

Women's World Cup 2019...

Following the success of the Typographic Wallchart that we produced for the last years World Cup, we have now produced a new wallchart for an even more important event - the Women's World Cup!

This A1 size typographic wallchart is very simply produced in just two colour offset litho and is printed on our new Creative Print, Diamond 90gsm from German paper manufacturer Euler and is made using 100% recycled fibres..

Click on images to enlarge

To accompany the wallchart, we have produced a ready made "sweepstake kit" so that studios can easily run a sweepstake and get everyone involved - the sweepstake idea came about at the suggestion of our friends at Carter Studio - an excellent thought and our thanks to Joe and Phil.

Design of the wallchart and sweepstake kit is by David Coates, who also happens to be a member of the ISTD board (International Society of Typographic Designers) and my thanks to Dave for making it all happen - a perfect way to combine his love of type and football! Printing is by Typecast Colour in Paddock Wood.

We will be sending out some of these wallcharts in the post, but if you want to make absolutely sure you get a copy, you can email me Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.typecast.co.uk/

https://www.istd.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.05.2019

Set in Stone

Yesterday evening I was at the St Brides Foundation in London for the launch of a wonderful notebook titled "Set in Stone". The project was a collaboration between design agency Carter Wong, printer Boss Print and us! This is the fifth notebook in the series, each one with a different and equally fascinating subject!

This edition showcases the fascinating examples of Jurassic fossils which can be seen all across London and its buildings.

The evening started with lashings of beer and wine and the opportunity to look at the exhibition showing the concept and the images that are the subject of the book.

There was then an introduction to the project by Sarah Turner, Managing Director of Carter Wong followed by a short presentation by Fenton Smith from Boss Print. There were over 100 people who attended....

...and here is the actual notebook that was the centre of attention.

The wonderfully debossed cover is on a vinyl based cover material. Flexible, durable and just right for a notebook.

...a birds eye view showing the binding and the pages with the images of the tiles printed, which are "french folded"

The below image shows a spread of the notebook with the image page on the left, showing the building and on the reverse side of the French folded image sections is an image of the stone/concrete that includes the fossils.

- what you cannot see and is impossible to show/photograph is the way that all the fossils are embellished, either with the most superb embossing, so they are actually in relief - a truly amazing effect or the most amazing foiling...

Above is the most amazing relief deboss and below is incredible foiling, which just brings the image alive...

The paper used in the books is our Redeem 100% Recycled 80gsm for the text pages and Omnia 120gsm for the fossil pages. The text pages printed on the Redeem are all printed with a solid tint which increases in tint as it goes through the book, representing the strata of rock.

Omnia is the perfect material to use for the Text pages as it's dead flat mattness gives incredible tactility to the fossil images, whilst still reproducing the images of the buildings superbly.

Printing is all offset litho. Embossing and foiling is all by Boss print and it is all to an exceptionally high standard.

 

A big thank you to Carter Wong, Boss Print and of course, our friends at the St Brides Foundation who made the event special as always.

http://www.carterwongdesign.com/
https://www.bossprint.com/
http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson on 23.05.2019 

Sun and Sea: Marina

La Biennale di Venezia was founded in 1895 and it is now one of the most famous and prestigious cultural organizations in the world. The 58th International Art Exhibition, titled May You Live In Interesting Times, takes place from 11th May to 24th November 2019. The title is a phrase of English invention that has long been mistakenly cited as an ancient Chinese curse that invokes periods of uncertainty, crisis and turmoil; "interesting times", exactly as the ones we live in today. The 58th Exhibition is curated by Ralph Rugoff, currently the director of the Hayward Gallery in London.

This is a project produced for the Lithuanian Pavilion, which has been awarded the golden lion (which is first prize) at the Art Biennale. The Pavilion features an Opera which lasts around an hour and this is the supporting collateral.

The production incorporates a record, record sleeve and a booklet/libretto containing the lyrics of the songs which you can hear during the performance together with other text about the artists and the curators of the pavilion.

Click on images to enlarge

The 32pp libretto is printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm. The size is 305x310mm and is printed offset litho in three colours both sides, two blacks and a Pantone special Gold. As you can see from the images the Offenbach Bible has printed the solid gold metallic superbly and the paper flops and folds beautifully in the hand.

The record sleeve is printed 5/5 colors onto Arktika Paper (from Papyrus) 350gsm. On the front side (the stripes) the sleeve has been screenprinted by inmates of the male prison of Venice - in the Venetian jail there is a screen print workshop and it was printed by the prisoners with help from the workshop staff. You can read more about the Prison and their work: https://malefattevenezia.it/en/a-great-value/a-great-team/

You can read more about the Lithuanian Pavilion here....
Sun and Sea: (Marina)
We look down from a minstrel’s gallery on the holiday-makers below, kids building sandcastles, tourists sunning themselves on towels, oiling up and eating ices. An almost hour-long opera – the work of theatre director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, playwright Vaiva Grainytė, and composer Lina Lapelytė – this seductive performance is beautifully sung by the lounging tourists as we watch from our balcony, our ticket to the end of the world. Threat slowly seeps in, like sun-tan oil. A lament to the eclipse of the world, as the sky and sea change colour, the reefs bleach and nature dies, this astonishing performance slides into almost unbearable pathos and pain. I can’t stop thinking about this work, which rightly won Lithuania the Golden Lion for best pavilion. Flying in and out, and living the way we do, we are all implicated. Not interesting times, but the last days.

You can watch and hear a minute or two of the Opera here (https://vimeo.com/320379708)

The printing of the Offenbach Bible and the colourwork on the sleeve is all by Grafiche Veneziane, who are a printing company based right in the centre of Venice - yes really, the factory is in an ancient building surrounded by canals and the paper (and everything else) has to be delivered by boat! Below is a picture of the team around the project, which they are justly proud.

The entire product (sleeve+booklet+record) is published by SKIRA. Concept and design is by Åbäke.

You can read more here on The Guardian website:

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/12/mawkish-monuments-beach-from-hell-our-verdict-venice-biennale

My thanks to Dr. Filippo Ranchio at Grafiche Veneziane for giving me all the details about the project.

https://www.sunandsea.lt/en
https://www.labiennale.org/en

http://www.skira.net/en/ 

http://abake.fr/

www.graficheveneziane.eu

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.05.2019