Friday, 5 October 2012

Favela Dream #01

Guillaume Cornet aka “Mr Guil” is a London based artist working with illustration and painting (Camberwell College of Arts, FDA Illustration, 2009 The Arts Institute At Bournemouth, ND Fine Art, 2007)

...and this is what he does (taken from his website) "he explores notions of abstract geometry, influenced by surreal perspectives and architecture to construct sometimes monochrome but mostly colourful and vibrant visual spaces. His works tend to be filled with intricate characters positioning themselves in unexpected geometrical environments. Creating a humorous visual language he frequently depicts unusual and bizarre situations"

He's just produced a series of limited editions of 6 silkscreened, fully hand coloured prints.(500 x 353 mm), titled Favela Dream, using our Colorset White 270gsm:
Click on the pics to enlarge
Guillaume is currently working on some larger prints, also on Colorset but in 350gsm. Do have a look at his website:
www.guillaumecornet.com
Posted by Justin Hobson 05.10.2012

Thursday, 4 October 2012

National Poetry Day 2012

 
Today is National Poetry day. I'm not a poet, so I'm not going to bother you with any of my poetry but I thought this might be a worthwhile time to mention that I've actually been at Fenner Paper for 20 years! (the actual anniversary was last month). I started as a paper merchant with the James McNaughton Paper Group in 1987 and after five very happy years, I met up with Chris and Tony Fenner ...and the rest is history!
 
One of my colleagues at McNaughton's was Debbie Wigglesworth, who over the years has also moved on in the industry, most recently working for that other, Hull based, paper merchant!  Anyway, at my 'leaving do' in 1992, she gave me a poem printed on translucent paper, mounted on a gorgeous piece of handmade paper made with flower petal inclusions. Needless to say, it's amongst my most prized posessions.
 
...and this is what she wrote (for the sake of context, I used to drive a VW polo):

Did you ever drive around London
and see a little tiny Polo with a long,
long man sticking out ...?
He was the local Paper Consultant
or something like that.
 
Before long it was realised that
not only were his legs unusually big
but his many talents were too.
In his new office , in front of him,
sat a new sign which read
'Advertising Manager' and was he!!
 
Very soon oodles of 'really good stuff'
was dropping through designers doors
splattered in magazines,
wacking printers between the eyes,
everyone was happy...
until one day, when his desk sign fell completely over
everyone tried to pick it up
but it wouldn't budge.
 
Across the city, some miles away,
a party could be heard.
Folks were preparing for the coming
of their new Marketing Manager.
The cleaning lady with her arms fully stretched
and balancing on her tiptoes
just managed to reach the new
name plate on the door
so she polished it until it sparkled
it read Justin Hobson.
 
So many people were sad to see him go
but liked him so much
that they had to wish him well...
...and so wish him well they did
and off he went to be a great success
 
My thanks to Debbie for the (v. flattering) poem and thanks to Fenner Paper for twenty amazing years and happy National Poetry day to you all.
Posted by Justin Hobson 04.10.2012


Tuesday, 2 October 2012

Jobs from the past - Number 36

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 here's one from 2004.

National Portrait Gallery - Off the Beaten Track 2004

This is the invitation to the Press View for the exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery called Off the Beaten Track, celebrating three centuries of women travellers in portraits. Journeying to distant parts of the world from the 1660s to the 1960s, before the age of mass travel, these women had experiences and encounters almost unthinkable today. The exhibition brought together 60 portraits from the National Portrait Gallery's collections, alongside souvenirs, photographs and paintings made by the women on their travels.

This 'passport style' invitation is 90x125mm, portrait and is saddle stitched with black staples (very nice) and also features round corners. It has a 4pp cover on Colorset Nero 270gsm with a 4pp text on Redeem 100% Recycled 130gsm. The cover is hot foil blocked with a matt white foil & blind embossing and the text is printed in four colour process.
Above: centre spread
Detail showing the printed 'intaglio' pattern. Redeem was chosen as it has a neutral white shade with an aged look and feel.
The reply card printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 240gsm and then rubber stamped by hand.

This beautifully conceived and produced invitation was by Frost Design, London. Creative directors on the project were Matt Willey and ZoĆ« Bather. Designer was Laura Hains. 

www.npg.org.uk
www.frostdesign.com.au
Posted by Justin Hobson 02.10.2012

Friday, 28 September 2012

Ally Capellino

This is a beautiful Spring/Summer 2012 lookbook, for British fashion designer, Ally Capellino. With a worlwide reputation for fashion, the brand now focuses on luxury acessories. There are now also two small Ally Capellino stores on opposite sides of London, in the East End’s Calvert Avenue and Portobello Road in the West.

Size of the publication is 163x225mm, portrait, saddle stitched. It is made up using a 4pp cover on uncoated with a 32pp text of our Omnia 120gsm which is just simply stunning with the images used.
Reproduction of the close up images showing the deatail of all the leather and stitching is fantastic.

 
Photography is by Agnes Lloyd-Platt. Print by Chapter Press.
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 28.09.2012

Thursday, 27 September 2012

Paperstock

Paperstock was an event held on Monday evening,  hosted by the The Curch of London at their Leonard Street gallery, 71a. It involved a series of short presentations by three speakers talking about why paper and the way it is used is important to them. This was followed by questions from panel mediator, Simon Esterson (publisher of Eye magazine) and questions from the audience.  The panel consisted of  Roy Killen, partner of Push Print, paper artist Chrissie Macdonald (from the Peepshow collective) and me!

It was a great evening which was amazingly interesting and diverse both in terms of the people giving the presentations and the topics covered. It was oversubscibed and totally sold out! - a total of about 45 in the audience.

www.thechurchoflondon.com
http://www.chrissiemacdonald.co.uk/
www.peepshow.org.uk
http://www.eyemagazine.com/
www.push-print.com
Posted by Justin Hobson 27.09.2012

Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Stardream - Fine Gold

Earlier this year we took over UK distribution of Stardream from Robert Horne (see my previous post: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/stardream-some-exciting-news.html). Since then, we have been working closely with the Italian manufacturer Cordenons, to further develop the product. An exciting development is a brand new shade called Fine Gold, which is amazing and looks just like ...gold!
It comes in 120gsm and 285gsm and is available from stock right now!  It joins the two other shades, Gold and Antique Gold plus the 29 other pearlescent and metallic shades in the range. 
 
If you would like samples of the new shade or if you haven't already got a swatch and would like one, just give me a call or send an e-mail.
www.cordenons.co.uk
Posted by Justin Hobson 25.09.2012

Friday, 21 September 2012

MANUELA by Annoushka


MANUELA is an individual collection from leading contemporary jewellery brand Annoushka. This is the result of a collaboration between sculptress Manuela Zervudachi and company founder Annoushka Ducas who have been friends since childhood. The pieces are beautiful and amazingly fine - all made from 18 carat gold.

This is the lookbook for the collection. Size is A5 (148x210mm), portrait. The cover is made using a rough Calico bookcloth in a natural colour, simply foiled in black on the outer. It has been mounted on our Omnia 280gsm. Text is 16pp of our Omnia 150gsm which is just simply stunning with the images used. The finishing is "saddle stitched with brass wire (closest to gold staples you can get!) - absolutely beautiful.
Lovely pencil illustrations on inside of cover (above)
Reproduction of the metallic gold on the Omnia 150gsm is just superb. Excellent detail and a beautiful metallic sheen which is as close as you can get to the real thing. 

Designer on the project is Jennifer Campbell-Colquhoun.  Printing (...and the tricksy bookcloth mounting!) is by Push. Thanks to Jenny for the lovely note, which as you can read, mentions that they used our Clervaux as a background paper on the photoshoot!
 
Posted by Justin Hobson 21.09.2012