New "pocket" swatch for Stardream

We've just produced a new swatch for our range of Stardream, which is the market leading pearlescent and metallic paper range produced by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. Many people have become fans of the light irridescent finishes and the dual sided deep metallic finishes which do truly shimmer. Stardream is used for a wide range of applications, including cover, presentation folders, Invitations, greetings cards and luxury packaging.

This new swatch is a handy smaller DL size (210x99mm) but still includes the whole range, with "chips" glued on, to show the wide spectrum of colours

As well as being available in the 31 shades, Stardream comes in a good weight range. All items are available in 120gsm and 285gsm with some of the most popular items also available in 340gsm board and a 110gsm one sided (particularly used for luxury packaging - paper over board boxes and casebound covers).

You can see the whole range here: http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
If you would like to receive one of the new Stardream swatches, just email me (justin@fennerpaper.co.uk) and I'll pop one in the post.

http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.10.2014

Jimmy Choo - For the Bride

This is a beautifully produced pack by Jimmy Choo for their bridal range. Jimmy Choo is an iconic luxury fashion brand defined by an empowered sense of glamour and a confident sense of style. The sexy cut, fashionable design, and exceptional Italian craftsmanship has created a global luxury being awarded 2008 'Designer Brand of the Year' from the British Fashion Council.

This presentation pack is produced for the bride (they also do mother of the bride etc.) and is in traditional wedding white, embellished with silver hot foil blocking.

The pack is A5 in size and is formed into a capacity wallet with a 6mm capacity to contain 4 cards plus a slim brochure. The pack opens in an envelope style with a large opening flap and is sealed'held together using hidden magnets - which isn't possible to show in the pictures - because they are hidden!

Capacity wallet folder with flap open

Back of wallet with flap closed - held together with the hidden magnets

The folder and the A5 postcards are all produced on our Omnia 320gsm, which gives a rich tactile feel, but allows all the detail in the images to show - some of the detailing of the shoes is exceptionally fine, but they have reproduced perfectly...

With Omnia, being a very bulky sheet, it creases exceptionally well and makes the folder a substantial, rigid 'box'. The below picture shows the capacity of the box with the fold on the flap, where one of the hidden magnets is positioned.

Art direction and design is by the Jimmy Choo in house design team. Printing and clever production - including the tricksy, hidden magnets is by Gavin Martin Colournet. 

 

http://www.jimmychoo.com/en/bridal-boutique/bridal-collections/bride/

http://www.jimmychoo.com/

http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.10.2014

Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination

Terror and Wonder: The Gothic Imagination
 is a recently opened exhibition at the British Library. It is the UK’s largest exhibition of Gothic literature, celebrating the many British literary masterpieces in the genre, as well as modern interpretations of the Gothic in pop culture today.

Exhibits include handwritten drafts of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the modern horrors of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser and the popular Twilight series, highlight how contemporary fears have been addressed by generation after generation. On display are posters, books, films - and even a vampire-slaying kit - demonstrating the dark shadow the Gothic imagination has cast across film, art, music, fashion, architecture and our daily lives.

Although this post is not about using a large amount of paper, it is about using the RIGHT paper! The captions printed for each of the exhibits are printed on Redeem 100% Recycled, 240gsm and mounted onto 3mm displayboard.

Graphic design for the exhibition is by Kellenberger–White. They needed a material that was a neutral white, that had an old look and feel without being all faux and 'parchmenty' - and they chose Redeem 100% recycled which gives the captions the perfect look. 

Here's what Kellenberger-White say about it....

Working with London-based architects OMMX, Kellenberger–White designed a comprehensive scheme of exhibition graphics, which included a special neon entrance sign, introduction and section panels, captions, as well as a section by section colour scheme, developed in partnership with the architects and the British Library exhibition team. The design deliberately played on the visual mood of the exhibits – for example the rooms and corridors dedicated to Dracula were lined from floor to ceiling in a deep blood red. The exhibition graphics sought to enhance the eerie tone of the exhibition rooms. Using the new typeface Stanley Bold, characterised by its sharp counter forms, the text panels were produced on hand-painted wooden panels – evocative of bucolic Victorian churches and school halls, while their layout and proportions subtly hinted at the ultimate Gothic motif of tombstones.

Kellenberger–White redrew a special hairline font that was optimised for neon production. The neon enriched the special characteristics of the chosen Stanley font, while also evoking the image of nighttime street scenes and seedy alleyways frequently occupied by modern day characters of the Gothic underworld.

You can read more about the exhibition here:

http://www.bl.uk/events/terror-and-wonder--the-gothic-imagination?ns_campaign=gothic&ns_mchannel=bl_website&ns_source=carousel&ns_linkname=gothic_more_link&ns_fee=0

Exhibition design is by London-based architects OMMX. Graphic design is by Kellenberger–White. Production Lighting is by DHA Designs Exhibition. Photography is by Max Creasy. Exhibition captions produced by The Keyboard Group.

Graphic design team is Eva Kellenberger
, Sebastian White and Mina Demiren.

www.kellenberger-white.com

www.officemmx.com/
http://www.thekeyboardgroup.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.10.2014

Ted Baker - Take the scenic route.

This is an exquisite print campaign from Ted Baker, one of the UK's leading clothing brands. Recognised for using interesting themes and stories for its marketing, the company has become a desired designer label through engaging with customers through word of mouth rather than just advertising.

Titled "Take the scenic route" it showcases the Autumn/Winter collection and is shot on location at Pickering station on the classic North Yorkshire Moors Railway. The Pullman steam train evokes a strong period scene in which the clothing and accessories play the central part.

The publication contains womenswear, menswear and accessories "so try something new (at the drop of a stylish hat) and always take the scenic route with Ted."

The paper used throughout is our lovely Omnia text and cover range - 320gsm for the cover and 120gsm for the text. As you can see from the images, there is lots of bright colour and images with CMYK dark areas (especially as it's Autumn/Winter) - lots of heavy coverage going down and it looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours as well and the dark winter colours, whilst retaining detail in the dark areas. ALSO...solid colours such as the solid black below, look just beautiful, flat, matt and tactile. 

This publication is produced in two sizes, 297x210mm (A4) portrait and 210x148mm (A5) format, both with a 4pp cover and a 72pp text.Perfect bound.

The superb printing is by Absolute Ink who are based in East London. Design and art direction is by the in house team at Ted Baker.

The front cover and spine is hot foil blocked with metallic silver foil - beautifully done and reinforces the quality of the brand.

Image showing foiling on the spine - spine is about 6mm

 

All in all, this is a superb piece of print. This book also heralds the launch of the wonderfully named "Phormal" range of clothing!

www.tedbaker.com

http://www.theabsolute.co.uk/
http://www.nymr.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.10.2014

What is ...Round Cornering?



What is ...Number 10

Regular followers of this blog will know that in the middle of the month, I publish a "What is ....? post. The article covers various aspects of paper, printing and finishing in greater depth. However, many of these subjects are complex, so these posts are only intended to be a brief introduction to the topic.

What is ...Round Cornering?

Round cornering is a print finishing process which does "exactly what it says on the tin"TM! As you can see from the image below, the book has been 'round cornered'

Common examples of round cornering are books and invitations. Below is a hand round cornering machine - it's the one we have in our sample room - so, yes, we can even do round cornered dummies and samples!

The way it works is a right angled sharp blade, called a cutter is brought down under pressure and it literally 'shaves' off the square corner in one easy movement, cutting a radius corner. Just to give you a sense of scale, the book in the picture above and below is A5. The effect is both aesthetically pleasing and unlike square corners is less easily caught and creased.

Round cornering can also be used on casebound books and normally the cover is also round cornered, although the case (cover) normally protrudes outside, as below:

It's also quite commonly used on invitations. Below is an invitation for Marte Marce at Riflemaker which was printed on Flockage Litho 300gsm and round cornered - works beautifully with the image, design and material. Printed and finished by Generation Press.

One thing that readers may not be aware of is that there are different radius cutters available, so it is possible to have a tight radius or a shallower cut, as demonstrated in the pictures below: 

It is true to say that this is a 'print-finishing' process which very few printers have available in house and is normally put out to trade finishers. The above example is a hand finishing piece of equipment, but "serious" or heavy duty finishing is done by larger mechanical presses, such as this one:  

http://www.chilvers.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=43

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.10.2014

The Henries - 2014

Last week I was fortunate enough to go the 'Henries'. These are the awards for the greeting card industry (named after the inventor of the greeting card - Sir Henry Cole) - it's the greeting card industry equivalent of the D&AD Awards.

My colleague Sarah Glennie, actively works with greeting card designers and publishers and Fenner Paper is an associate member of the Greeting Card Association (GCA). At the Henries, we sponsored the award for the 'Best Art Range' which I had the pleasure of presenting.

More than 14,000 cards were entered in this year’s competition! The awards were held last Thursday evening with comedian Alun Cochrane hosting the awards ceremony at London’s Lancaster Hotel.

Photos by: http://www.eddiemacdonald.co.uk/

The winner of the 'Best Art Range' award is Wrendale Designs for their entry The Country Set and above are pictured Hannah and Jack from Wrendale Designs flanked by Alun Cochrane and me ( ...I'm not the one with the beard!)

You can see the award winning range here:
http://www.wrendaledesigns.co.uk/country-set/

Congratulations to all the award winners and to those nominated for awards - no mean feat with that number of entries! ..you can read more about the awards here:
http://www.thehenries.co.uk/The_Henries/The_Henries_2014.html

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.10.2014

Presence - Portraits by Edward Barber

Edward Barber is a photographic artist, specialising in images of people and their relationship to space and environment. Barber is best known for his portraiture, through major projects such as Peace Moves, All Dressed Up, In the City and 15:18 Teenagers in their Rooms. He has the rare distinction of being one of the few photographers to have their work displayed and in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

Until recently Ed was the Director of Programmes for Fashion Photography at London College of Fashion and ran the BA (Hons) Fashion Photography course. He has now left full time lecturing and returned to life as a working photographer.

This simple piece of literature is to show a series of portraits. Titled 'Presence', because that is what all of the subjects have, it is a simple format showing eight portraits.

The format is a very simple 16pp broadsheet, designed in such a way that it opens easily and displays the maximum number of useable printed panels. Technically I believe it should be described as a '16pp parallel double fold'.

Size is 450x632mm, flat folding to 230x160mm, portrait. This birds eye view should give you the best idea of the format and the way it works.

The below image is the first spread:

which concertinas out to show the series of four images titled 'The Dancers' [Please note above and below the printed image which you can just see appearing to the bottom and side]

In what is effectively the centre spread, two images The Artist and The Actor are shown - again you can see the image below on the left hand side:

The broadsheet opens to reveal this amazing full size image 'The Interior Designer'. The paper chosen is our Omnia 120gsm because it would work with the rich detail that is present in the images but that would give a natural look and tactile feel. It is printed offset litho in four colour process (CMYK) and the black and white images are particularly impressive as the tone is consistent.

The reason I keep referring to the way that you can see an image 'poking out' is because the fold is asymmetrical and allows 10mm to show, which is a brilliant way of revealing that there is something more to come without giving anything away ...very clever!

Concept and design is by Ed Barber and Danielle Inga.

The printing and finishing is by Jigsaw Colour and is excellent. Always a challenge for a printer when the client is a photographer!

http://edwardbarber.net/
http://concreteed.blogspot.co.uk/
www.jigsawcolour.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.10.2014