OK, get ready for a rant!It turns out that Midas Press effectively “went bust” last week and yes, that means we (at Fenner Paper) like many other suppliers, won’t get our outstanding invoices paid and we are thousands of pounds out of pocket. Unfortunately that is one of the many risks of being in business.
Sadly this is an all too common occurrence in the printing industry but what really gets people upset is when the printer involved simply tells their customers (which will be many of you reading this blog) that they have "re-branded" or had a "management buy-out". What they will fail to mention is that they have shafted their creditors and literally walked away from their debts. This act in itself is unfair, but then life isn't fair - what is completely unjust is that they can just carry on trading as Midas Press (now PLC) with their customers (you) being completely oblivious as to what has happened.
So just to be clear, MIDAS PRESS HAS GONE BUST, but they are still taking on jobs and trading as Midas Press!
Please THINK AGAIN before supporting this type of phoenix company. How can you trust people who do things like this? According to the Printweek blog, apparently Midas Press have taken Paperlinx (the group who owns Robert Horne, Paperco and Howard Smith) for over £400,000!
If any of you want to see the kind of vitriol that goes with this type of appalling behaviour, have a look at the following links, especially the comments on the Printweek site!
...end of rant
This job is for the Rainforest Action Network. The purpose of the publication is to highlight the scale of the destruction of the world's rainforests. Design is by Studio8, Matt Willey and Zoƫ Bather were designers on the project. The amazing photography is by Giles Revell.
The size of the job is 220mm x160mm portrait and is best described as an 8pp cover with a 24pp text. The text is actually formed by a long concertina (with one join) and the 8pp cover, which has a 10mm capacity spine actually works as a "dustjacket". It was constructed like this for reasons of both economy and ecology! The whole job actually comes out of one B1 sheet of paper meaning that it was relatively economical from a printing point of view and it was also not wasteful which is in line with the clients aims and objectives.
It is quite simply a stunning job both from the concept, design, photography, format, printing and finishing. It deservedly won 2008 DesignWeek award for Editorial Design. Thumbnail of the entire job is below:
The photography was printed as a Tritone with a high density black ink. The repro and superb print is by Granite. The material choice is Neptune Unique FSC 200gsm which not only printed fantastically but was also the environmental choice by having Forestry Stewardship Council certification.
Picture above shows outside back cover and the pic below shows the front and back cover with the flap that forms the "envelope" style flap. Text on the cover has also been hot foil blocked in matt white foil which gives a rich contrast with the self-coloured cover board.
The project is designed by biz-R who are based in Totnes, Devon. Creative Director on the project is Blair Thomson and design and (some!) of the copywriting is by Blair Thomson and Tish England.

The pocket sized catalogue is to accompany Pretty Eyed, Pirate Smile an exhibition of six video works from Ellie Rees. The works, made over the past two years, explore the archetypes and broad narrative structures that opera and film rely on, particularly regarding gender and love, specifically those of women in romantic relationships.
[Above] Fred Butler and No Days Off: The launching of the 8 days a week campaign...
[Above] Oliver Jeffers & Aaaron Ruff: A machine to enable a 4D view of the world!
[Above] Sandy Suffield and Fiona Woodcock: Stitched, hand painted reactions to tabloid headlines.
[Above] Rob Ryan and Michael Marriot: "The rockin' Rob Ryan chair"
