Zollanvari Catalogue

Zollanvari carpets embody the spirit of carpet design and weaving – an extraordinary art form that has been treasured across the world for more than 2,000 years. The story of Zollanvari began in 1947, when Gholamreza Zollanvari joined his father’s carpet business, a legacy that had been handed down from his great grandfather. In 1985 Gholamreza’s son Reza established the company in Zurich to directly access the European market and established the Zollanvari name as a global trail-blazer in creating carpet art.

This wonderful catalogue tells the story, explains the types of carpet showing the range and possibilities.

Size of the catalogue is 274x173mm, portrait and is 'singer sewn'. There is a 4pp cover and a 36pp text. It is printed throughout on Omnia 280gsm and 150gsm which gives the publication a tactile uncoated feel but with a great print result.

The publication is digitally printed by Identity Print. It was printed on their Ricoh digital press (dry toner) and the result is exceptional. The great thing is the job just doesn't look and feel like a digital job, which is mainly down to the choice of substrate.

Click on images to enlarge

The images have reproduced superbly and are totally lush and even the flat solid grey/brown looks flat and even, which can sometimes be a problem printing digitally.

The colour is so vibrant and works brilliantly on the Omnia as you can see in the detail image below...

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Above is the centre spread. This catalogue is singer sewn, so you can see the way the thread runs along the inside of the spine - see detail image below...

...and on the outside of the spine below.

Printing is by Identity Print with Paul Martin handling the project. Finishing and singer sewing is by Wayte Binding in Tunbridge Wells who are part of the Identity Print group, so they are are one of the few print companies with their own bindery.  

https://zollanvari.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.09.2020

Concealed Histories

This pioneering special display at the V&A provides insight into the ongoing research into the provenance – or history of ownership – of the Gilbert Collection. In many cases it is unclear who owned these pieces before they were acquired by Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert. This uncertainty can be alarming: between 1933 and 1945 Jewish people in Germany and Nazi-occupied Europe had their possessions systematically taken from them. Art collections were confiscated, sold, scattered or destroyed by the Nazis. Despite significant efforts after the Second World War by the Allies and European governments, many of these objects were never returned to their rightful owners. Instead, many objects ended up in public and private collections, often acquired without knowledge of their background, or whose hands they had passed through. 

Concealed Histories, tells the story of eight Jewish collectors and their families under the Nazis. It is the first of its kind by a UK museum.

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This information leaflet features a very long concertina so all eight objects can be viewed. It is a 16pp concertina, the finished size being 150x105mm with a flat size of 838x222mm.

The above image shows the inside, with the 70mm flap, which has the information about the previous owners. The below image shows both sides laid out flat...

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It is printed offset litho in 2 colours - black and gold. The result is really impactful with the gold looking amazing...

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The publication is 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.

It is printed by London printer PUSH and as you can read in the note below, they were the only printer approached who took the challenge of printing the heavy gold solid and the folding!

Published by the V&A. Graphic design is by Nina Jua Klein Studio.

The exhibition runs until 10th January 2021, so you have a few months to get there.

https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/concealed-histories-uncovering-the-story-of-nazi-looting

https://www.ninajuaklein.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.09.20

Colorset has 36 shades...

For those of you not familiar with Colorset, it is our range of coloured text and cover papers which is 100% recycled and more competitively priced than some other well known brands of coloured paper!

Click on images to enlarge

A few years ago we started to bring in our Colorset range in 350gsm, so we now have ALL colours in 120gsm, 270gsm and 350gsm - all in B1 size (700x1000mm). 

Two years ago we further developed the range with 8 new colours, making this a collection of 36 shades.

The new shades include five light shades and three deep shades. The new shades are Blush, Warm White*, Glacier, Storm, Hopsack*, Charcoal*, Spearmint* and Deep Blue (Note: four of the new shades with an asterisk* are virgin fibre)

...so there you have it, a range with 36 colours including SEVEN greys!

If you would like the updated swatch, please drop me an email and I'll pop one in the post justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.09.2020

Sibarth Map

Sibarth, is one of the largest villa rental companies on the exclusive Caribbean island of St. Barth. KesselsKramer, who have studios in Amsterdam, London and Los Angeles conducted a total rebrand. KK developed a strategy based on the fact that Sibarth were the first villa company established on the island, and the only one run exclusively by people who live on St. Barth. KK emphasised this with a new campaign theme: 'Our Island. Your Way', new logo, website, editorial content and films. 

As part of the print collateral, they produced this map of the island... 

Click on images to enlarge

The finished size of the map is 160x120mm, which folds out to 320x480mm. It is not a regular map-fold, as you can see from the picture above, after folding up the front cover, you are faced with two 60mm flaps which meet in the middle, which neatly leads you into the content...

Below shows the inside of the map laid out flat.

Below shows the outside, with the map of Gustavia, the capital, on the right hand side.

Click on images to enlarge

The map is beautifully illustrated by French illustrator Cassandre Montoriol.

The paper used is our Favini SHIRO Alga Carta, chosen because it was in keeping with the sustainable concerns of the island. Alga Carta is manufactured partly using algae harvested from the fragile marine areas, combined with recycled and FSC certified fibres. Algae blooms in abundance in certain areas, clogging up the flow of water in lagoons and endangering the eco-balance of the area.

The map is printed on Shiro Alga Carta, White 120gsm and the 53mm wide 'belly-band on 160gsm. If you aren't familiar with Shiro Alga Carta, the specs of Alga are actually visible in the sheet as you can see in the detail below:

Design is by KesselsKramer, London and the Art Director is Tash Ingall and producer is Tialda Lublink. It is printed offset litho by Park Communications in London and my thanks to Gareth John for sending me file copies.

www.sibarth.com

http://www.kesselskramer.com/

https://www.cassandremontoriol.com/

https://www.parkcom.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.09.2020

Flora Recycled Paper

If you aren't familiar with Flora, it is a part recycled text and cover paper with a deliberately recycled look and feel with specks and inclusions, so it looks deliberately flecky and specky. Flora is produced by Cordenons with 30% post consumer de-inked waste, together with 60% of virgin FSC pulp and with the "secret" ingredient of 10% of cotton fibres, which gives the paper a wonderful tactile feel.

All the shades have the specks and inclusions with the exception of the Gardenia shade which is a "clean" neutral white shade. The range consists of nine shades in total including Anice, Giglio, Avorio, Tabacco, Noce, Gardenia and three new shades...

...which are lovely new deeper shades: Crusca, Canella and Ginepro

Below shows the detail of the natural, deliberately visible, inclusions and fibres - this paper has a character all of it's own!

It really is a lovely range. Muted natural colours and excellent printability. Here are some previous projects which have used Flora to great effect: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lower-mill-estate.html

https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2018/02/honest-burgers.html

If you would like one of our swatches, just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.09.2020

D&AD Awards 2020

Yesterday evening it was the D&AD awards, which this year, was an online affair. I've been fortunate to have been invited to the awards dinner a few times over the years and been on the table of those who have won yellow pencils for projects for which I've had input and they have been very memorable evenings!

Given the circumstances, the awards this year were very well executed and superbly presented by D&AD President Kate Stanners Saatchi & Saatchi Global CCO).

A phenomenal 618 pencils were awarded, including 384 Wood, 150 Graphite, 68 Yellow, and 4 elusive Black Pencils. One of the black pencils worthy of note was for typeface Universal Sans, a variable typeface that allows for an extensive range of customisation and unique variations produced by Family Type.

This year, many of the studios that I have worked with over the years, including Johnson Banks, NB Studio, Magpie, Osborne Ross and Here Design, to name but a few, have been nominated and won awards.

It's always lovely to have been involved with a project which has won an award and even better, a project which has won two awards...

Twenty-five Sculptures In Five Dimensions was a self-promotional project for writer Tom Sharp. It was a demonstration of creativity within strict technical writing and design restraints, an experiment in reading and seeing, and an attempt at creating a sublime, meaningful experience with as few elements as possible.

I wrote about the actual event on my blog, last November  HERE.

Tom Sharp filled a high-ceilinged church in Covent Garden with 25 plinths. Each plinth held a text created to a strict format of five syllables per line, five lines plus a title. Each piece of writing described an original, imaginary object, so that any emotional response the reader had was because of the object they conjured up, rather than language manipulation.

The project was a collaboration with Studio Sutherl&. Tom Sharp and Jim Sutherland are the Creative Directors, writer is Tom Sharp and the designer is Rosey Trickett. The printed sheets were all printed on our wonderful Sixties paper and printed offset litho by Boss Print.

Yesterday evening this project was awarded a Graphite Pencil [Graphic Design] for Self Promotion and a Yellow Pencil [Graphic Design] for Writing for Graphic Design.

Congratulations to all participants in this year's awards. It has been a strange year, but life goes on and it's great to see that the creative industry is still producing and recognising great work, even in these unprecedented times.

You can watch the 2020 D&AD awards and check out the winners HERE

https://www.thepoetryofitall.com/
http://studio-sutherland.co.uk/
https://www.bossprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.09.2020

Lolapaluza Wedding Stationery

Last week, I was thrilled to receive some superb pictures from Lolapaluza of our BOTANICA floral seed paper. Lolapaluza specialises in unique wedding stationery and having spotted our new range, purchased some BOTANICA to produce sample invitations to show at the forthcoming wedding shows this Autumn.

The samples are simply, but beautifully, hot foil blocked using gold foil...

I wrote about our new BOTANICA floral seed paper when we launched it on May Day this year HERE. The range is handmade for us exclusively in England by Two Rivers Paper, who are based at Pitt Mill in Somerset.

Great care has been taken in the hand papermaking process, using 100% cotton, without chemicals and dried naturally (only by air) meaning that the seeds remain viable and can germinate and grow. Below, you can see my efforts, grown on wet tissue on our window-sill.

...and my colleague Sarah Glennie has demonstrated her horticultural skills using compost in the image below - 4 weeks after planting:

My thanks to Linda at Lolapaluza for showing me the results of her tests and for planting the idea of this lovely new range into the minds of her clients...

https://lolapaluza.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/lolapaluza_stationery/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.09.2020