Rapha in Norddal

If you are familiar with cycling brand Rapha, then you'll know that they stand for quality and as you might expect their literature is produced in an exemplary way.

I have been sent a couple of jobs printed on our paper which are just superb. The two jobs I show here are part of the same set produced in 2009.  Both jobs use photography taken by Ben Ingham in a remote part of Norway called Norddal.

Firstly there is the lookbook which is a 24pp self cover. The size is 150x195mm, portrait, saddle stitched, produced on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 155gsm.  The natural shade gives this job a really classic feel and works really well with the four colour black and whites and the muted colours.

Centre spread:

Now this job is paired with a slightly larger job which is produced purely as a photographic piece, all printed in CMYK black & white and what an amazing piece this is too. It is 170x225mm Portrait, has an 8pp cover and 12pp text and is "singer sewn" with a natural colour thread. It is also printed on Neptune Unique SoftWhite but this time all on 250gsm.

and so you can see an uniniterupted shot without a spine getting in the way (!)  here's a pic that's available as a download from the Rapha site:

The designer for both jobs is Ultan Coyle working for Rapha and the superb repro, print and finishing is by Orchid Print.

http://www.rapha.cc/
http://www.beningham.net/
http://www.orchidprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.09.2010

Jamie Wieck - Designer and Illustrator

Yesterday I got a call from a designer at Airside called Jamie Wieck for some Colorset samples. We exchanged e-mails and a link to his blog was on the e-mail, which I clicked on and it's a great blog - have a look at: http://www.jamiewieck.com/

He is also an illustrator and below is pictured his amazing (and a little bit cheeky!) poster called "The Joy of Cycling" which was shortlisted for this summer's Association of Illustrators poster competition (unfortunately it didn't win).

http://www.jamiewieck.com/

http://www.airside.co.uk/

http://www.theaoi.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.09.2010

Ordnance survey maps stay in the UK

There was a snippet of news in last weeks edition of Printweek magazine which I though was worth a comment. Ordnance Survey which is the government run body which literally "maps" the UK is closing it's printing works and will no longer print OS maps. That's pretty sad news but the good news is that a British company has been awarded the contract to produce the maps which is excellent because I expected to read that they were being outsourced to China!

Anyway, it's the book and catalogue printer Butler Tanner & Dennis based in Frome , Somerset which has been awarded a four-year contract (worth £8m-10m) to print Ordnance Survey (OS) maps.

Butler and Tanner are the long established colour book printer who went bankrupt in 2008 but which was rescued by publishing entrepreneur Felix Dennis (pictured right). He's an interesting character having been the co-editor of the famous OZ magazine in the 1970's and who went to prison following the OZ obscenity trial of 1973 - have a look..   http://www.felixdennis.com/.  - he also recorded a single with John Lennon!

Apparently he rescued Butler and Tanner,  so that they could continue print his peotry books, although that's probably an urban myth! Since 2008 BT&D printers has been through much reorganisation but appears to be running well and in a sustainable way. Contracts like the OS maps staying in the UK is good news for UK print and I successful companies should be applauded.

Sadly we don't supply the paper for the maps ...maybe one day!

www.butlertanneranddennis.com/
http://www.felixdennis.com/
http://www.printweek.com/
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.09.2010

Orbiting - Richard Evans

This is a superbly simple publication which was produced on a tight budget but which has enormous impact.

Orbiting is a collection of poems by poet Richard Evans which have been illustrated by Ed Boxall and published in a limited edition of 1000 copies.

The designer is Steve Burgess. The materials used are Colorset Nero 270gsm for both the cover and 'heavy' bookjacket with the text on Colorset White 120gsm. The job is simply printed in one colour with the illustrations produced as halftone. The cover is hot foil blocked in silver.

Size of the job is 165 x240mm. The 'special' thing about this job is the economical way in which it's produced although it's very difficult to photograph, so you'll have to bear with a description. Steve wanted this to be a book and to have a spine but there wasn't enough in the budget to have a glued 'square back' binding (either Section Sewn or Perfect Bound). So what we did was to saddle stitch as per normal but then a heavyweight 8pp bookjacket has been produced with parallel creases along the spine and the saddle stitched book is held inside the jacket with a nice sqaure spine ...and it works very well!

Print and foiling is by Identity in Paddock Wood, Kent.

http://www.richard-evans.org.uk/
steve.k.burgess@googlemail.com
http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.09.2010

Shiro mailer drops on the doorstep...

If you're one of the lucky people in my address book, you should receive a natty little mailer, as pictured, from paper manufacturer Favini about their range which we are now stocking in the UK, called SHIRO.

It's a lovely little piece held together by a "rivet" and is to highlight the three distinct sub-ranges within the Shiro collection. They arrive in a custom made envelope (made from Shiro, of course) 238x65mm which is important as they fall in the cheaper "Letter" category for UK postal costs! They were designed in house by the creative team at Favini and produced in Italy.

This is a new range of really beautiful papers - they are lovely to the touch, have a great formation and will print really well - hopefully over the coming months you'll see some lovely jobs on this paper featured on this very blog!

If you would like one of the new swatches (pic below), please e-mail me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Here's a bit about the three papers in the SHIRO range: 

SHIRO - Alga Carta

Alga Carta is a paper manufactured using polluting alga harvested from the Venice lagoon, combined with FSC certified fibres. Algae blooms at the end of Summer in the Venice lagoon as the warm water combines with pollution. The algae must be harvested to maintain the lagoon's eco-balance (circa 5,000 tonnes of wet algae is removed annually). The algae (seaweed) is used partly as pulp replacement but mainly as a filler and this accounts for its unusual smooth feel and the random specks.

SHIRO – Echo

Echo is the highest quality bright white and natural recycled paper. It’s made from 50% Post Consumer Waste (PCW) combined with 50% FSC virgin fibres. There are two shades, a bright White and a Natural and the weight range is from 90gsm up to 300gsm

SHIRO - Tree Free

Tree Free is a naturally different paper that uses fibres from annual plants such as bamboo, cotton or bagasse – it is made with 100% non-tree fibres – it is a naturally different paper – no trees!

Anyway that's the end of my sales pitch! - If you would like a swatch (or a mailer if you didn't receive one!) drop me an e-mail: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.favini.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.09.2010

D&AD New Blood 2010

Promoting D&AD's showcase of the best student work (New Blood) is a tricky job. While the spotlight is firmly on the graduates, the invitation needs to attract a wide range of visitors from the creative industry.

NB: Studio created a series of A1 posters for the 2010 New Blood campaign  "Sorry old blood, the new blood has arrived". Photographed by the now eponymous David Stewart, the images show how the creative elite might react once the new students unveil their work ...exhaust pipe through the car window, gun to the head, jump off a tall building etc. 

The A1 posters which folded down to A5 were printed on Offenbach Bible in 60gsm because at this weight (and if folded correctly - i.e. concertina and concertina, therefore allowing all air to escape) there are no "crows feet" appearing - if you're not familiar with that term, it's where a rather ugly crease appears parallel to the fold.

This is the A5 folded example:

Which concertina's out to this:

To reveal the A1 size poster:

As in previous years, it's famous faces that get the interest up, so characters such as Michael Wolff, Dick Powell all seemingly declaring "I won't be there, 'cos I've topped myself!"  - eyecatching stuff!

Here are some of the other images:

Creative Directors are Nick Finney and Alan Dye. Designer is Ed Wright.

http://www.dandad.org/

http://www.nbstudio.co.uk/

http://www.davidstewwwart.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.09.2010

It's Nice That - issue #4 ...details announced

Today the full line-up for It's Nice That Issue #4 has been announced. Included in the content are interviews with the likes of Nick Knight, Neville Brody and Miranda July, as well as features from Adam Buxton and Sara de Bondt. The stellar line-up is also complimented by the usual collection of brilliant work from the last six months on the blog.

Every pre-order will also be treated to a free, exclusive screen print by James Jarvis. It has been designed specifically to give anyone who orders a copy of the publication before midnight on 30 September - this print will not be available anywhere else. The print fits neatly into the inside of the magazine meaning no folds...

It's Nice That is printed using our Colorset 100% recycled 270gsm cover and our Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm for the text - and here's how it looks when it's at the printers:

So pre-order your copy now, otherwise you won't get your free print!
http://shop.itsnicethat.com/products/its-nice-that-issue-4

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.09.2010