Crush 03

Crush is a beer 'zine, which is an ongoing side project for design and branding studio O Street. The project allows the studio to combine a bunch of things they love: illustration, print, design and beer!

The focus of issue 3 is 'women in beer'. Historically, brewers were primarily women, until many were targeted as witches and this subject provides a rich seam of content for illustration ...perfect, as we are only a few weeks from Halloween! 

The size of the zine is 297x105mm, portrait and is saddle stitched. There is a 4pp cover printed on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Amethyst 270gsm with a 32pp text on our Crush Corn 100gsm, which is made using 15% residues from the processing of corn plus recycled and FSC fibres. You can read about it here.

Click on images to enlarge

There are articles about six beers, breweries and women in brewing, all beautifully and wittily illustrated.

Click on images to enlarge

There is also photography but you might have noticed that the images have an unusual look. The reason is that this 'zine is 'Riso' printed as all good zines are! If you aren't familiar with Riso printing, you can read about it here. Image reproduction is quite crude as it is a monotone with a coarse screen but the result is really unique and characterful and the illustrations have a wonderful quality to them. 

The below image shows all the illustration spreads, all printed 2 colour Riso - SUPERB! 

Click on images to enlarge

The project was co-ordinated by Jonny Mowat at O Street and my thanks to him for sending me file copies...

The zine is Riso printed and saddle stitched by Good Press who are based in the centre of Glasgow and they really have made a beautiful job of it.

https://www.ostreet.co.uk/

http://goodpress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.10.2020

Beau Cacao

This boutique chocolate maker, based in South Eastern France, was founded in 2013 by Bo San Cheung and Thomas Delcour. Beau Cacao craft their full-bodied single-plantation chocolate in Briançon, Hautes-Alpes from cacao which is sourced directly from farmers in Malaysia.

The colours of each of the bars were chosen based on the flavour profiles of the chocolate, red to match smoky tobacco and paprika and yellow for caramel and brioche. 

The board chosen for the wrap/boxes is our Shiro Echo, Bright White 250gsm, from Favini, which is 100% recycled, FSC accredited and carbon balanced. You can read more about Shiro Echo here.

The distinctive mold of the chocolate bar (above) was designed by Adam Gill.

Each of the wraps are printed offset litho in a special colour and superbly hot foil blocked in a gloss metallic foil...

Printing is by Identity, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and they are just gorgeous - colours are bright and solids are superb - the hot foil blocking is perfectly executed (Identity are one of the few printers to have hot foil blocking facilities 'in-house')

https://www.beaucacao.com/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.10.2020

Jobs from the past - Number 131

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 this publication is from 2014. 

67 Tufton Street SW1

Situated in the Smith Square conservation area, this Queen Anne style building was originally a Post Office and subsequently the UK Government’s Cabinet Office and a fine example of London’s architectural legacy. This office building was sympathetically restored and re-modelled to a plan by EPR Architects resulting in 22 luxury apartments.

This is the sales brochure produced to show the development, the surrounding area and the wonderful interiors. 

The size is 290 x 225mm, portrait, having a 4pp cover using a Buckram embossed chocolate brown cover board and is 'swiss bound'. The 56pp text is printed offset litho on our Omnia 150gsm. It is printed CMYK plus a metallic gold special and the result is absolutely superb.

The special pantone gold looks amazing ...really metallic and because Omnia is not smooth, it gives the feeling of something that is really metallic rather than something that is smooth and shiny.

Click on images to enlarge

The striking commissioned photography has reproduced brilliantly on the Omnia whilst not losing the tactility and natural uncoated feel that was required. The look and feel is a confident, beautifully crafted piece of literature, certainly not some "glossy property brochure"!

The swiss binding, still means that this brochure is made up using 'section sewn' signatures and above you can see the threads running across the inside spreads.

Click on images to enlarge

The metallic gold is used both as section dividers but also for the floorplan pages. The quality of reproduction of the interiors is wonderfully impressive with metallic fittings looking metallic and a photographic quality to the images.. 

The above and below images show the floorplans of the penthouse apartments.

The below image shows the Swiss binding. For those that are unfamiliar with this type of binding, it is essentially a section sewn or perfect bound binding method which has a "lip" of about 15/20mm of book-cloth wrapped around the spine. The cloth covered spine is stuck flat on the reverse of the text block with a strip of glue into a 4pp cover with a "freestanding" spine which means that the cover (which can often be very springy with normal adhesive binding) sits totally flat.

Branding for the development and the design of this amazing brochure is by London design agency The Ideas Factory under the leadership of Mark Wilkins. Designer on the brochure was Yafet Bisrat. Print production is by Push and it is superb. Both the "ink on paper" and the finishing/binding is amazing.

http://www.ideasfactory.co.uk/

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.10.2020

De La Warr Events Guide

This is the Events Guide from last Autumn/Winter for the De La Warr Pavilion. The De La Warr pavilion is on the seafront in Bexhill in Sussex and is an iconic modernist building by the architects Erich Mendelsohn and Serge Chermayeff which opened in 1936. Following a major renovation in 2005, the pavilion hosts many shows, exhibitions and cultural events.

The finished size is 210x111mm, folding out to 420x553mm and is a 20pp concertina letter fold. Side view....

Below image shows the concertina folding...

This guide is printed on our StarFine White 130gsm which means that rather than feeling like the vast majority of mass produced leaflets printed on a bit of silk or gloss, this has real character and value. The design is such that the listings of the exhibitions, activities and events are all listed on one side (outside)

...with the inside being reserved for a full size image from the exhibition. The below image taken from the Renee So exhibition, Ancient and Modern.

The De La Warr identity and design (including the website) is by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne. Print production is handled by Simon Hack. You can read more about the creation of the new identity here: https://playnedesign.co.uk/our-work/de-la-warr-pavilion/#branding-modernist-cultural-icon

The project is printed offset litho in CMYK by Empress Litho with Jason Maclaren handling the project - and my thanks to Jason for very kindly sending me some file copies.

https://www.dlwp.com/

https://playnedesign.co.uk/

https://www.empresslitho.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.09.2020

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...

Click on images to enlarge

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.

Click on images to enlarge

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...

Click on images to enlarge

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

Click on images to enlarge

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