Orozco Garden

The South London Gallery’s permanent Orozco Garden first opened in 2016 and was created over two years by leading international artist Gabriel Orozco, with support by 6a Architects and horticulturalists at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew. This publication celebrates the project five years later, exploring the narrative of how this unique space came to life.

The 128pp casebound book is 215 × 280mm. A variety of materials have been used throughout the book in reference to the colours and textures found in the garden. The text is printed on a combination of uncoated and coated paper (I don't know which ones) and two differing shades of recycled grey paper for the front and back covers like the York stone bricks...

There is a section printed on Crush Kiwi 120gsm including a gatefold, chosen in sympathy with the foliage in the garden.

Crush is made partly using the residue from the industrial processing of crushed citrus fruit, coffee, nuts, olives, kiwi, corn, lavender cherries and grapes, these agro-industrial "end of life" products replacing up to 15% of conventional tree pulp. This is combined with 40% recycled fibres (post consumer waste) and the remainder is FSC virgin pulp and the product is FSC certified. The range is produced using green energy and is carbon balanced at the mill gate (we can also supply the paper in the UK, certified as carbon balanced).

Click on images to enlarge

Looks and feels beautiful and a wonderful example of where choosing the right materials that work with the subject makes a good job an exceptional one.

Design is by Wolfe Hall and printing is by Graphius.

https://www.southlondongallery.org/

https://www.wolfehall.com/

https://graphius.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.06.2022

Selling Your Home the Modern Way

Established by Albert Hill and Matt Gibberd, The Modern House is the UK’s foremost estate agency, only selling modernist and contemporary architecture for over a decade. This is a piece of

promotional literature titled "Selling Your Home the Modern Way" giving the facts about how The Modern House operates, supported with research and statistics.

The format is an 8pp concertina fold, finished size is 200x262mm folding out to 800x262mm. Below you can see a birds-eye view of the format. 

Below shows it unfolded...

Click on images to enlarge

The material chosen for the publication is our Omnia. This material has a high bulk, required as this is only an 8pp but a board weight would be too heavy, so this is produced on 150gsm which has a bulk of 200microns, which feels just right. The photography has reproduced brilliantly on the Omnia, with the combination of exterior and interior photography and fleshtones..

The Modern House have used Omnia many times, so they know just how good the combination of tactile feel and excellent reproduction is ...and the solid black is really solid and dead flat matt:

The superb art direction and design is by Tom Watt at Field Projects. 

https://www.themodernhouse.com/

http://field-projects.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.06.2022

PG LIVE 2022

The Progressive Greetings Exhibition or "PG Live"as it's known, is now open at the Business Design Centre in Islington. Aimed at the greeting card industry, it's open on 7th & 8th June and here's the picture of our stand...

We have a modest stand of 3 metres x 2 metres and we're showing our boards that are especially suitable for greetings cards, including our new PaperWise.

If you are a designer or publisher of greeting cards, please do come along and we look forward to welcoming you - we're on stand 405.

https://www.progressivegreetingslive.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.06.2022

Wanted: Tolerance! The Civic Duty of Graphic Designers

This evening there is an interesting online talk (which is free!). Accompanying the Kunstbibliothek’s exhibition “Studio Tolerance”, graphic designer and illustrator Mirko Ilić will be giving an online talk live from New York. 

As initiator of The Tolerance Project and author of “The Graphics of Dissent”, Bosnian-born Ilić has long pursued an interest in socially and politically driven graphic design. In this talk, he will give an introduction to his worldwide tolerance poster project and, looking into both historic and contemporary output, identify ways how graphic designers can answer calls to civic duty. The lecture is followed by a Q & A session with Christina Thomson of the Berlin National Museums’ collection of graphic design. Please dial in at the time of the event: https://spk-berlin.webex.com/spk-berlin/j.php?MTID=m3a49b5f9dd7ed1be45c43f597d22531b

https://www.smb.museum/en/events/detail/wanted-tolerance-the-civic-duty-of-graphic-designers-2022-06-07-190000-127462/

Wanted: Tolerance! The Civic Duty of Graphic Designers Online Talk with Mirko Ilić Date: Tue 07.06.2022 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM Location: Registration: no booking/prior registration required

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.06.2022

World Environment Day 2022

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 me to remind you of a material we recently launched to coincide with COP26 last November.

PaperWise is an entirely new concept, a range of paper and board manufactured from agricultural waste - this is the stems and leaves left over the harvest and which is often left in the field or burnt. There are additional benefits: PaperWise is produced in factories in India and South America that make a big difference to local communities. Investments are made in education, infrastructure, and healthcare while the manufacturing process is geared toward safety, zero waste, and preserving local ecology.

Lifecycle analysis (LCA) conducted by the University of Amsterdam (IVAM) has concluded that the environmental impact is 47% lower than FSC-paper made from trees and 29% lower than recycled paper...

The natural shade, manufactured from 100% agri-waste is also completely unbleached and has lower Co2 emissions than virgin fibre or recycled papers.

The PaperWise range is held in stock by us at Fenner Paper in Tonbridge. European stocks are held in Rotterdam and include a wide range of packaging boards and lightweight papers with food approval, copier paper and even corrugated boards. 

You can read more about this new range HERE and about how this fits with the UN sustainable development goals...

The paper and boards are suitable for all print work and packaging, with a one side coated packaging board up to 465microns.

PaperWise founder Peter van Rosmalen features on this 1 minute video here:

If you would like samples, please drop me an email justin@fennerpaper.co.uk or have a look at our website.

https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/

https://paperwise.eu/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.06.2022

Jobs from the past - Number 151

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 being the platinum jubilee weekend, it seems like a good time to write about this project!

Lightness of Being 2008 - Chris Levine

Chris Levine is a Canadian born light artist who studied at Chelsea School of Art and Central St Martins and this is the invitation and show catalogue for his 2008 show held at the Old Truman Brewery in March 2008.

The centrepiece of the show is Chris’s (now, well known) work "Equanimity", the historic hologram portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (above) commissioned by the Island of Jersey to commemorate 800 years of allegiance to the crown and reputedly the only "portrait" of Her Majesty with her eyes closed. Equanimity 9, is pictured below:

The catalogue and invitation are pictured below. Catalogue is left, invite on the right. The invitation and cover of the catalogue are both printed on Astralux [1 sided] 250gsm which is a "cast coated" board (high gloss one side, uncoated reverse). Gloss coated side is printed in a fluoro pink solid. The invitation is printed CMYK on the outside (uncoated) with the coated (fluoro) on inside...

If you click on the image above, to enlarge, you'll see that the catalogue cover - which is an 8pp cover with the flaps reverse folded so they are on the outside - has a fantastic embossing - which shows the Equanimity image in relief. It just looks fantastic.

Size of both the invitation and the catalogue are A5, portrait. The catalogue is perfect bound with a 36pp text printed on our Neptune Unique FSC 160gsm.Text is printed four colour plus fluoro pink throughout.

Catalogue, invitation and graphics are by Why Not Asscociates. Print is by Push. Sadly neither companies are still trading.

This is simply the most innovative use of Astralux as a cover material that I have seen - the way the invitation and catalogue cover switch inside and outside and switch processes is superb and compliments the subject - as it should!
https://chrislevine.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.06.2022

Malone Souliers x Bridgerton

Netflix and Shondaland - the media company behind “Bridgerton” - have partnered with the footwear brand, Malone Souliers. The result is an exclusive 14-piece collaboration of sumptuous shoes which reference the period as well as characters from the show. The Creative Director and Founder of Malone Souliers is Mary Alice Malone.

This tabloid size promotional piece is 430 x 285mm, portrait and was printed in February for the launch in March.

It is 16pp and is printed on our Shiro Echo White (100% Recycled) 100gsm, giving the publication a deliberately newsy feel, however the reproduction is far from a newsprint, as I'm sure you can see from the detail image below...

Click on images to enlarge

It is a superbly designed and printed publication which flops and folds in the hand beautifully...

It is loose bound, no staples, just folded as you can see in the image below.

Outside back cover...

Art direction and design is by Assembly. Print production is by Roy Killen.

https://www.malonesouliers.com/

https://assemblylondon.com/

https://www.roykillen.net/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.05.2022

Unburnable book set to be auctioned

Today an article appeared in Printweek written by Jo Francis about Penguin Random House, who have  created a one-off ‘unburnable’ edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale that will be auctioned for charity on 7th June.

The article is reproduced below...

PRINTWEEK

Jo Francis 

Friday, May 27, 2022 

Penguin Random House has created a one-off ‘unburnable’ edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale that will be auctioned for charity.

The publisher said the volume had been printed and bound using “fireproof materials” and described the edition as “completely unburnable”. 

“Across the United States and around the world, books are being challenged, banned, and even burned. So we created a special edition of a book that’s been challenged and banned for decades,” the publisher stated. 

The print specification involved: a black Cinefoil dust jacket, white heat shield foil pages, section sewn with nickel wire, phenolic hard cover, stainless steel head and tail bands, and Kapton high temperature adhesive. 

“Printed and bound using fireproof materials, this edition of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale was made to be completely unburnable. It is designed to protect this vital story and stand as a powerful symbol against censorship,” Penguin Random House said. 

The book will be presented for auction by Sotheby’s New York from 23 May to 7 June with all proceeds going to benefit PEN America’s work in support of free expression. 

At the time of writing the current bid was $70.000 (£55,447). 

In a YouTube video about the project, Atwood uses a flamethrower to show the book’s resilience.

My thanks to Printweek for reporting this. You can read the whole article here: 

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/unburnable-book-set-to-be-auctioned

https://unburnablebook.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.05.2022

The annual Wayzgoose at the St Bride Foundation

Last Sunday, I had a stall at the St Bride Foundation WAYZGOOSE. This is a term (unfamiliar to most people) that used to refer to an annual holiday in a print-works and was often an awayday to the coast or some other sort of day out, more often than not, paid for by the firm. In this instance the St Bride Wayzgoose is a kind of letterpress 'bring and buy' sale.

Thirty tables displaying and selling many different items - everything from lead type to the Adana tabletop presses (see below picture) from Caslon, to secondhand books and printed examples of work.

Below is the table that I was allocated, where, as with previous years, I adopted a "throw it all on the table" approach! I took lots of offcuts and discontinued paper and board items. All paper and card sold by weight - 40 pence per 100 grams.

I served at my 'paper stall' from 11am to 4pm  ...and by the end of the day I had raised £206, all donated to the St Bride Foundation.

...and here is my beautifully crafted 'Weigh & Pay' signage.by Helen Ingham from the Hi Artz Press - It's now lasted three wayzgooses!

My thanks to all the staff and friends at St Bride's who organised the event.
https://sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.05.2022

The Bristol Hotel

The Doyle Collection is a carefully curated collection of eight Irish family-owned luxury and urban hotels. Each hotel has a strong identity that is closely connected to its location. Set in the city's vibrant harbourside, The Bristol’s contemporary exterior overlooks the busy harbour. With 187 well appointed guest rooms and suites, this is a wonderfully luxurious hotel.

Branding agency, Brave New World  undertook an extensive re-branding exercise of the parent brand and of each individual hotel. The work included everything from strategy to interior design, website, high-profile advertising campaigns and the literature for each hotel.

Click on images to enlarge

The size of the brochure is 260x185mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. The cover is printed on an uncoated 300gsm board. 

The brochure is saddle stitched using three stitches:

The text material chosen was our Omnia, which would beautifully reproduce the photography with the rich interiors and exteriors superbly  ...and it looks wonderful! The 20pp text is on Omnia White 150gsm, printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.

Click on images to enlarge

Image reproduction is paramount but it was also important that the publication also projected the tactility of the interiors and in the image below the detail of the wedding venue and the reproduction of the fine voile used on the chairs. An ordinary feeling silk or gloss coated paper wasn't an option, so Omnia fitted the bill perfectly.

Omnia is a very bulky paper but with a 20pp text and the saddle stitching, it lays nice and flat allowing each spread to be enjoyed without 'fighting' against the binding.

Branding and creative direction is by Brave New World. The designer on this project is Caroline King. 

https://www.doylecollection.com/hotels/the-bristol-hotel
https://bravenewworldgroup.com/
http://www.carolinelking.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.05.2022