ISTD 90th Anniversary

Yesterday evening I was lucky enough to be invited to the 90th anniversary celebration International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD) awards held at the wonderful De La Warr pavilion in Bexhill on Sea, East Sussex. It was a wonderful evening at this amazing location.

The De La Warr pavilion is a modernist building by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff which opened in 1936. The enlightened town council opened this new space which was to provide culture and entertainment for the masses – a true people‘s palace.

The evening started with drinks on the rooftop terrace, which was delightful as it was a beautiful evening.

The anniversary dinner was held in the dining area on the second floor, where over a hundred members and guests gathered, including some members coming from as far as Canada.

The wonderful restaurant area has the most amazing panoramic windows looking out to sea, a really perfect backdrop.

The evening began with an introduction by Jonathan Doney, the Chair of ISTD who gave a brief re-cap of the society's history, founded 90 years ago by Vincent Steer who brought together six other like-minded colleagues, for the first meeting of the British Typographers Guild, held at an Italian restaurant in Holborn, London. Jonathan reminded us of the work of the ISTD, including the Student awards which has been running for 45 years and now with programmes in six countries!

After dinner, Andy Altmann, one of the co-founders of Why Not Associates gave a very amusing talk about the influences on his career from the humble Ladybird books, his scrapbooks, to Eric Gill and Why Not's early life as a studio in Soho, shortly after leaving the RCA.

A very special moment in the evening was the award made to Freda Sack (pictured below). Freda was made an Honorary Fellow of the ISTD in recognition of her significant contribution to the Society and the typographic industry. Freda has been a member for over 30 years and has held pretty much every position on the board. Freda managed to achieve this while also running her own successful business.

It was an excellent evening which demonstrated real warmth and friendliness which the world of typography appears to engender. 

 It is so important for the design industry that we nurture and retain organisations such as the ISTD and we must take every opportunity to try and encourage membership, thus ensuring their continued viability. ...and if you aren't a member, have a look http://www.istd.org.uk/- it costs less than £10 per month - which is excellent value! 

Congratulations to the ISTD Board and the events team for arranging an excellent 90th Anniversary -- a huge amount of time and work goes into these events and it is fair that they should be recognised and applauded. 

www.istd.org.uk 

www.dlwp.com 

Posted by Justin Hobson 29.06.2018

Begg & Co AW17

Begg & Co have been making beautiful scarves, wraps and stoles in Scotland since 1866. The small coastal town of Ayr has been at the heart of the brand for well over a century, when founder Alex Begg opened his first mill and began working with skilled local weavers. Begg’s original ethos is maintained thanks to the modern-day team of dedicated craftspeople, who continue to source the best quality yarns in order to create timeless, versatile products that are heavenly to touch and a delight to own.

This is the lookbook for last year's Autumn Winter collection showing both Men and Women's collection. The finished size of the publication is 266x145mm and forms a 24pp broadsheet, folding out to 798x580mm.

The above image shows the front and back covers. The format is a "parallel gatefold" as you can see from the image below...

The first spread is below

folding out to the next spread....

The whole publication is all printed offset litho on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm ...and it looks and feels absolutely gorgeous - it flops and folds in a delightful way when handling the publication as I hope these images demonstrate. The below image shows the way it concertina's from top to bottom (vertical folds) before folding horizontally

One side...

and the other side...

Creative direction and design is by Studio Small. Photography is by Josh Hight.

 

Printing is by Push and the reproduction on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm is truly scrumptious!

 

https://www.beggandcompany.com/

http://www.studiosmall.com/

http://www.push-print.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.06.2018

Sylph Editions in China

Based in London, Sylph Editions publish fiction, monographs, theoretical essays, limited-edition art and photography books. Some of their work is of particular interest to buyers in China, so they produced this piece of literature as a promotional piece for the Chinese market.

The size of the publication is 210mm square. It has a 4pp cover printed on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Bright Red 120gsm and a 16pp text printed on our Neptune Unique SoftWhite 120gsm. Notice the deliberately lightweight cover - on a 120gsm! allowing the publication to flop and turn beautifully which suits the size and format superbly ..and it also works with the three hole sewn binding as you can see below:

The text is printed using an HP Indigo digital press and the results are superb, beautifully showing the books and publications that they produce.

Centre spread, with three hole sewing and red thread in spine.

Detail showing the three hole sewing:

The below spread shows the book, Painted Nudes about Saul Leiter's painted works. You can read more about this project here:

Design and Art Direction is by Ornan Rotem at Sylph Editions.

Printing and the terrific finishing - which was all achieved in house is by Zone Graphics, based in Paddock Wood in Kent.

http://www.sylpheditions.com/
www.zonegraphics.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.06.2018

Wichelstowe

Wichelstowe is a development by Swindon Borough Council, south of Swindon Old Town. Bell Integrated were commissioned to develop the Wichelstowe place brand, guidelines, messaging, literature and collateral, followed by a site-level sub brand including naming Canalside for a number of mixed use parcels sitting alongside the Wilts Berks Canal. This is the sales brochure for Canalside.

Size of the publication is 265x210mm, portrait with a 4pp cover on Omnia 320gsm and a 12pp text on Omnia 150gsm. 

Click on images to enlarge

The material chosen for the publication is our Omnia. This material has a high bulk, required as effectively this is only a 20pp brochure. The photography has reproduced brilliantly on the Omnia, with the combination of exterior and interior photography and fleshtones..

A really nice feature is the singer sewn binding, which you can see here on both the exterior and interior of the publication.

Click on images to enlarge

Even though the 150gsm text paper is bulky, it still rolls and flows nicely in the hand without feeling too stiff and rigid.

Art direction and design is by Bell Integrated. You can read more about the whole project here: https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/portfolio/wichelstowe/. Printed offset litho throughout. The excellent print, repro and finishing is by Gavin Martin Colournet, based in London

https://www.bell-integrated.co.uk/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.06.2018

Reconstruction

...just the cover makes the difference!

Here's an interesting project which is well worth a look, because of the interesting design concept and the way the cover is used to add to the quality and feel of the whole project.

 

This 48pp guide was produced to accompany an international touring exhibition called Reconstruction: Cultural Heritage and Making of Contemporary Fashion. This exhibition is touring around the world and is funded by the British Council.

Click on images to enlarge

Size of the publication is 210x130mm, portrait. The 48pp text is printed on a 130gsm printers "house silk" which, as you can see from the image below, is perfectly acceptable and the economical choice.

The cover however, is what really makes the difference to this publication. It is printed on ZETA, Linen, white 150gsm and I hope you'll be able to see the embossed linen texture in the image below...

Click on images to enlarge

The exhibition was designed by Pippa Nissen and design studio Kellenberger-White, who produced the literature. A really interesting aspect is that Kellenberger-White also developed a new typeface in response to the theme of the exhibition. The typeface is based on an observation by Alan Fletcher who spotted a modular grid on the reverse of a Russian Post Office envelope. Kellenberger-White drew a new alphabet originating from that grid, which was previously only drawn for numbers.

 

The grid is reproduced on the outside back cover of the catalogue....

...and of course the use of a linen embossed paper is perfectly in keeping with the "grid" concept and makes the catalogue look and feel very special.

Inside back spread:

 A very interesting project and you can read more here: http://kellenberger-white.com/project/reconstruction/

Creative directors at Kellenberger-White are Eva Kellenberger
and Sebastian White.
www.kellenberger-white.com
https://design.britishcouncil.org/projects/reconstruction/

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.06.2018

The World Cup for type lovers...

Here's a World Cup wallchart for the typographic purist!

This A1 size wallchart is very simply produced in just two colour litho and is printed on our wonderful Shiro Alga Carta 90gsm from Italian paper manufacturer Favini. Shiro Alga Carta began life as a way to utilise the damaging algal blooms which were clogging up Venice lagoon. Now the lagoon in Venice has been cleared of this problem, the concept has now been extended to help the clean up process in other fragile marine areas.

Design is by David Coates, who also happens to be a member of the ISTD board (International Society of Typographic Designers). Printing is by Typecast Colour in Paddock Wood.

 

We will be sending out some of these wallcharts in the post, but if you want to make absolutely sure you get a copy for next week, you can email me Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

 

http://www.typecast.co.uk/

https://www.istd.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.06.2018

Jobs from the past - Number 104

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 here's one from 2015.

McQ AW 2015

McQ, is the contemporary brand from Alexander McQueen which takes inspiration from street culture "evoking the varied and ever-evolving style tribes that spring up around Britain’s rich music and art scenes. Drawing on references from uniform and the military, core staples of the British wardrobe are re-imagined each season in new guises. Traditional techniques are used in contemporary ways, creating pieces that are both functional and beautiful"

 

Creative Director of Alexander McQueen and McQ is Sarah Burton and these fold out broadsheets were used as inserts for both the Men and Women's ranges.

 The finished size of the inserts are 210x280mm, folding out to 420x280mm, as below...

 …and then out to the full size of 420x560mm. Below is the Womenswear collection.

The broadsheets are printed on StarFine White 100gsm. Starfine is a quality, uncoated paper and as the images show, image reproduction is excellent. The detail of the clothing, fleshtones and on the detail images, even the fabrics is excellent - great detail for an uncoated paper, colours are bright and vivid and the solid black is superb. Menswear is below....

Produced on 100gsm, with the folds it has enough solidity to hold together well but also opens nice and flat and flows in the hand.

Design and art direction is by Rupert Smith who is a freelance art director based in London. This is an elegant and splendidly produced publication. To get these dark images to look this good on an uncoated paper is a real achievement. Print is by Rob Squires at Pureprint.

http://www.alexandermcqueen.com/gb/mcq
www.pureprint.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.06.2018