Christian Dior - Designer of Dreams

Spanning 1947 to the present day, this exhibition traces the history and impact of one of the 20th century's most influential couturiers, exploring the enduring influence of the fashion house, and Dior's relationship with Britain. This exhibition presents over 200 rare Haute Couture garments drawn from the V&A's couture collection and the extensive Dior Archives alongside accessories, fashion photography, film, vintage perfume, original make-up, illustrations, magazines, and Christian Dior’s personal possessions. The exhibition ran from February to 1 September this year and was a total sell out.

This is the private view invitation for guests invited for a special dinner to celebrate the opening of the exhibition in January this year.

The format is an 8½pp concertina folded invite. The size is 183 x 675mm folding to a finished size of 183x150mm with a 75mm flap, which I hope you can see from the birsdeye view above. Having the half page flap means that on the front, you have coated and uncoated meeting together which is a wonderful juxtaposition.

The below image shows both sides of the invitation...

Click on images to enlarge

Hopefully you'll be able to see from the image above that one side is very colourful and glossy and the other side is uncoated with mono images and hot foil blocked in silver. It is printed on Astralux [1 sided] 300gsm and is finished with gloss film lamination - this might sound unnecessary,but it is what gives the super high gloss lustre, which only lamination on top of a cast coated paper can give you.

Below shows the hot foil blocking on the uncoated side of the Astralux.

 

The invitation is designed by the in-house design team. Print and hot foiling is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood with Paul Martin handling the project.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/dior-designer-of-dreams

http://www.identityprint.co.uk/

http://www.favini.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.10.2019

Picpus

Picpus is a free magazine edited by Charles Asprey and Simon Grant. It carries articles from the art world, with a particular interest in historical curiosities, overlooked artists, arts and politics and is distributed through a selection of specialised art bookshops, galleries and libraries. 

The format of Picpus is a folded down broadsheet, measuring 594x420mm (A1 size) which folds down to a 32pp A6 (105x148mm) finished size. 

Click on images to enlarge

Picpus is printed quarterly and there have been 22 issues so far, this issue is a reprint of issue #1 with a special cover by Christian Flamm in a limited edition of 1000 copies only.

Below shows the broadsheet folded out...

...and the reverse side:

Picpus is printed on Redeem 100% Recycled 80gsm and is printed offset litho, CMYK one side and one colour (black) on the reverse. Design is by Alfonso Iacurci and is printed by Push Print based in London.

http://www.charlesasprey.london/picpus-press.html
http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.10.2019

Wei Ligang

Michael Goedhuis specialises in the best contemporary Asian and Western art. Their collection includes painting, sculpture, ink painting, bronzes and antiquities. They also represent contemporary artists and this brochure is for one such Chinese artist - Wei Ligang.

The size of the publication is 265x216mm, portrait with three hole sewn binding. It has a 4pp cover with 120mm flaps printed on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Dark Grey 270gsm and a 28pp text printed on Gardapat 13 Bianka 150gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

For readers not familiar with GardaPat 13, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt - some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't! Apart from the high quality matt surface, this paper has an extraordinarily high bulk - this 150gsm text with a thickness of nearly 200mics. If you would like to read more about the bulk, you can read it here.


Centre spread...

Detail image showing the exceptional reproduction and three hole sewing...

The text is digitally printed using an HP Indigo digital press and the results are superb, beautifully showing the artworks. As many readers will know, many materials have to be "Sapphire Treated" to work successfully on HP Indigo presses, however this project has been printed without sapphire treatment.

Click on images to enlarge

The 28pp text flows nicely in the hand, feeling substantial but not overly heavy.

Detail of the three hole sewing on the spine......

Detail of the hot foil blocking on the outside front cover.

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.

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.10.209

The Shepherd’s Whistle

Earlier this year, the John Hansard Gallery, part of the University of Southampton presented an exhibition titled The Shepherd’s Whistle, a commissioned project by Stefan Gec. The exhibition centres around the artist’s fascination with top-secret maps of strategic cities worldwide that were created by Soviet intelligence during the Cold War, alongside an M-72 Soviet army motorbike and sidecar from 1957. Riding the M-72 and navigating using the Soviet maps, Gec journeyed to five UK towns and cities that were identified by the Soviets as having strategic importance.

This is the accompanying literature produced for the exhibition...

The size is A5, portrait and the format is an 8pp right angle fold.

Click on images to enlarge

The leaflet is printed offset litho on our Sixties, 60gsm ...and it works superbly as SIXTIES has the same type of translucency as a tracing paper - but it feels like a normal paper! … so it works perfectly for this publication, allowing the map to show through and provide the backdrop for the essay about the exhibition, written by Ros Carter. You can see the way the translucency works in the image below:

Front cover:

...opens to this spread

Open at full size:

Click on images to enlarge

This image shows the Soviet map which appears on the inside of the leaflet.

The publication is printed offset litho in CMYK and the colour reproduction on Sixties is excellent, as you can see in the image above.

Click on images to enlarge

The exhibition ran from February to April this year. Design is by Daly & Lyon who are a studio based in London that specialises in design for the arts. Printing is by Aldgate Press.

http://www.jhg.art/event-detail/374-stefan-gec-the-shepherd-s-whistle/
http://www.daly-lyon.co.uk/
http://www.aldgatepress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.10.2019

Autumn shapes using Stardream

Patternise are based in Ewhurst, Surrey, specialising in creative design and laser-cutting services. They work with a wide range of clients across the UK - managing large volume projects for major corporates and visual merchandisers to smaller projects for individuals and weddings. Patternise use state of the art laser cutters and they specialise in cutting “clean” materials such as fine papers, cards, acrylics and plastics (PP/PET).

Patternise have used boards from our Stardream range to cut out Autumn shapes to form the hanging display at Castle Howard near York. The display forms part of the Autumn Festival which opened last week and is open from now until Christmas.

Click on images to enlarge

The shapes are produced using their "super pulsed" Trotec galvo system (GS1000), which enables extremely high-speed laser cutting and high volume paper finishing. Using this system they are able to cut many 1000's of sheets within very quick time-frames, which would be impossible with conventional lasers.

Sadly I haven't got a detailed image of the leaves but this is an excellent example of the creative uses of lasercutting and laser engraving and of course our Stardream board as well!

https://www.castlehoward.co.uk/DB/whats-on-3/friends-of-castle-howard-christmas-preview-2

www.patternise.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.10.2019

Jobs from the past - Number 120

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. 

Parka London 
Autumn Winter 2015

With 60 years of manufacturing heritage behind the business, in 2013 they launched their own label. PARKA LONDON is a tribute to Alfie Levers, the original founder and his vision. The brand is a celebration of the iconic, timeless military designs fused with contemporary modern styling and fabrics.

This is the AW15 collection lookbook. The cover is printed on the cover material from that other, Hull based, paper merchant! with an image printed on the text material and tipped onto a plate sunk cover. The size is A5 (210x148mm) portrait and is section sewn.

The It's a 36pp text self cover and is printed on our Marazion Ultra 115gsm which gives it that dead matt/flat look but with great reproduction as you can see from the images... 

Click on images to enlarge

The 36pp text rolls nicely and it opens quite flat which is testament to the fact that the weights chosen are correct.  

The art direction is by Muse & Maker and the quality of the direction and photography (by Jon Corrigan) is matched by the exceptional printing by Push.

https://www.parkalondon.com/

https://www.museandmaker.com

http://www.push-print.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.10.2019

Matt Russell Portfolio

Matt Russell is a London-based photographer specialising in food, travel, lifestyle and portraiture. With a strong reputation for his natural style and ability to capture life, Matt has established himself internationally as a trusted, reputable photographer. He has an inherent ability to work closely with clients to achieve their vision for both editorial and advertising.
“I absolutely love my job and the places that it takes me, not to mention the amazingly talented and passionate people that I get to work with everyday. I feel incredibly privileged.”

This 40pp portfolio shows Matt's wide ranging photography skills in one superbly produced package. The size is 285x225mm (a good economical size out of a B1 sheet)

Click on images to enlarge

It has a 40pp text printed on our Omnia 120gsm. For those readers not familiar with Omnia, it is an uncoated paper with a surface treatment. What this means is that it feels like an uncoated paper but because the surface treatment minimises 'dot-gain', the print result is much more like that of a coated silk or gloss coated paper.

Centre spread...

There are so many good images here which look so good, that it's hard not to show you every spread!

The publication is printed offset litho throughout in CMYK. As you can see from images, some of the images are quite dark, but there is no loss of detail, which is what can often happen printing on a true uncoated paper. As you can see from the detail image below, the reproduction is simply stunning.

The brochure is saddle stitched and even though Omnia is a very bulky paper, even with 40pp the spine looks good and doesn't "gape" in the middle, as you can see below.

Another lovely feature is the use of copper wire stitches. Just another lovely touch which makes this publication superb

Design is by Sandra Zellmer. Printing is by Ambrose Press. Jonathan Savory handled the project. Particular care has been taken over the repro - as with all projects for photographers, there is detail in the images which can only be truly appreciated by the photographer and it is the skill of the printer to be able to listen and interpret these comments in the finished printed job. Not always easy to do but this is a beautiful piece of printed literature.

https://mattrussell.co.uk
http://www.sandraswork.com/
http://www.ambrosepress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.09.2019