Printweek - Paper Supply Crisis

I have written before on this blog about the situation in the paper industry, about the shortages and rapid price increases.

A few weeks ago a very interesting article was written by Jo Francis for Printweek magazine covering the situation, which you can read here... 

https://www.printweek.com/briefing/article/navigating-the-paper-supply-crisis

A particularly interesting part of the article is an explanation of how in less than three years, the industry has lost nearly 6 million tonnes of paper & board production, listing the following mill closures and cuts in capacity:

Cuts to capacity – going, going gone – how nearly 6m tonnes per annum of paper production disappeared

Feb 19: Germany’s Scheufelen files for insolvency for the second time in two years. It had produced 140,000 tonnes of premium coated paper per year

Mar 19: Arjowiggins’ largest mill, Bessé-sur-Braye with capacity of 320,000tpa of recycled coated and uncoated papers goes into liquidation after parent Sequana went into administration

Mar 19: Lecta shuts down coated woodfree production on PM 8 (200,000tpa) at its Condat mill, with the intention of converting it to label and packaging papers

May 19: Stora Enso confirms exit from coated woodfree paper market, removing more than a million tonnes of capacity as a result. The 1.08m/tpa Oulu mill in Finland will be converted to packaging board

Feb 20: Sappi Europe says it will close 240,000tpa coated woodfree PM2 at its Stockstadt mill

July 20: UPM closes its Chapelle newsprint mill in France, which produced 240,000 tonnes of newsprint per year

Aug 20: UPM announces it will shut its Kaipola mill in Finland by the end of the year and decommission its three paper machines, an annual reduction of 450,000 tonnes of newsprint and 270,000 tonnes of graphic grades. It also puts a ‘for sale’ sign up at UK newsprint mill UPM Shotton 

Aug 20: SCA says it will exit the publication papers market

Feb 21: SCA makes its last reel of publication paper at its Ortviken paper mill (756,000tpa) where three paper machines were shuttered and the site switched to the production of chemically pre-treated thermo-mechanical pulp (CTMP)

April 21: Stora Enso plans to close its Veitsiluoto (790,000tpa woodfree uncoated paper) and Kvarnsveden (565,000tpa SC magazine paper) mills in Sweden, slashing annual capacity by 35% to 2.6m tonnes

May 21: Zanders Paper goes into liquidation. It had two paper machines and capacity to make 325,000tpa of high gloss, cast coated paper, label papers, and board

Jun 21: Stora Enso sells its 310,000tpa Sachsen newsprint mill in Germany. The new owners will convert it to make containerboard

Sep 21: Newsprint production ceases at 250,000tpa capacity UPM Shotton. The new owner is converting the mill to produce cardboard

An excellent piece of research by Jo Francis, thank you.I suggest you read the whole article online.

https://www.printweek.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 30.04.2022

Monocle Shop

Monocle is a premium mediabrand with print, audio and online elements, not to mention their ever expanding retail network and on-line business. The Monocle Shop is at street level in six cities - London, Zurich, Merano, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Toronto. The shop keeps everything from luggage and clothes to stationery and furniture.

This piece of promotional literature shows what is available at the shop. The finished size is 216x102mm, portrait and is a 16pp folded format folding out to a flat size of 402x432mm.

The above folds out to reveal the first spread below...

 ...and then folding out again, left and right.

Click on images to enlarge

 and then folding up to reveal the full spread below.

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 folds.

The below image shows both sides.

 The print quality is superb as I hope the below image demonstrates.

Click on images to enlarge

Design is by Loi Xuan Ly at Monocle. The publication is printed offset litho, CMYK throughout. The excellent print is by Park Communications, who are based in East London,

https://monocle.com/shop/
https://www.parkcom.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.04.2022

Today is Earth Day

Earth Day is an annual event first held on April 22, 1970. It now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EARTHDAY.ORG including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. Above all, Earth Day is the "people's day" for doing something to take care of the Earth. That "something" can be local, national or global. It can be a solo action or involve a crowd.

What better day for me to remind you about one of our range of recycled and environmentally friendly text and cover papers...

 

Creative Print is a range of 100% recycled, uncoated text and cover materials. 

The paper has an uncoated, natural surface and is produced on the "Rolls Royce" of papermaking machines - a twin wire machine which ensures even-sidedness which improves printability over other inferior products. The range is available in two shades, Diamond and Champagne and the weight range is 90, 120, 170, 210, 270 and 350gsm.

 

Creative Print is manufactured by Euler in Germany, which is part of the Koehler Paper Group. The range carries the "Blue Angel" certification. Introduced in 1978, the Blue Angel scheme is the oldest ecolabel in the world, and it covers some 10,000 products in some 80 product categories. After the introduction of Germany's Blue Angel in 1978 as the first worldwide environmental label, other European and non-European countries followed this example and introduced their own national and supra-regional environmental labels. The common goal of these labels is to inform consumers about environmentally friendly products thereby giving global support to product-related environmental protection - perfect for highlighting on Earth Day!

 If you would like a swatch of this range, just drop me an email Justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

 

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.04.2022

Olivia von Halle

Olivia von Halle is a British luxury nightwear brand that launched at London Fashion Week in September 2011. The brand can be found in nearly 100 stores in 20 countries including Harrods, Selfridges, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and online with Net-a-Porter.com.

Focusing on beautifully cut silk pyjamas in stunning exclusive prints, Olivia von Halle has quickly made a name for itself in the world of high-end nightwear. In 2013 the company was awarded the ‘Blue Butterfly Trust Mark’, which is given to brands and companies that have a positive impact on people and the planet.

This is the lookbook for the Spring Summer "Talisman Collection". The publication is sub A4 - 290x205mm, portrait. It is a 16pp self cover format printed on Omnia 150gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

Unlike many of the fashion lookbooks featured on this blog, which are printed offset litho, this has been digitally printed on an HP Indigo press. The colours are strong and punchy and the whole publication has a matt, tactile look and feel - in fact I can honestly say, every bit as good as litho!

Although Omnia was never originally developed for digital, we now keep it as a stock item with "sapphire treatment". This treatment is often applied to more unusual papers and provides a "key" so that the inks (which are different to litho inks) work on the paper surface. The great thing is the job just doesn't look and feel like a digital job. Below is a detail shot showing the excellent fleshtone reproduction.

A nice touch is the use of the white wire for the saddle stitches

The self cover format means that it flows well with the pages turning nicely.

Graphic design is by Michael Knight, who runs his studio in East London called A New Mark. Print and finishing is by Gavin Martin.

http://oliviavonhalle.com/
http://www.anewmark.com/
https://www.gavinmartin.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.04.2022

Tree Free - Bamboo Paper

Our friends at the Favini paper mill in Italy pioneered the use of alternative fibres. In the 1990's Maggie Philbin on BBC Tomorrow's World (...do you remember that?) introduced the original Favini ecological paper Alga Carta and the mill has continued development of other eco-products over the last thirty years.

Tree Free has been setting the standards for papermaking with zero impact on forestry for more than twenty years. Now with an improved recipe and a refreshed range that includes a new 380 gsm weight ideal for tags, cards and packaging, Tree Free uses 75% Bamboo Fibres with 25% cotton linters. Both are renewable annual crops which yield high quality fibres giving a natural tactile finish to the paper and excellent printability. 

To complete the story of sustainability, Tree Free is recyclable, biodegradable and made using EKOenergy from a hydro electric power station. Tree Free carries the FSC™ certification, even though like the name implies it has no impact on forests.

It is available in two shades, Bamboo Natural and Bamboo Cream. If you would like one of these lovely new swatches, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.favini.com/gs/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.04.2022

ZRS Architekten

ZRS Architekten are a Berlin based architecture and engineering practice specialising in the use of natural building materials, especially Earth, Timber and Bamboo. Formerly, Ziegert, Roswag, Seiler Architekten engineers, London based designer, Dan Cottrell created a new visual identity for ZRS, uniting their previously separate offerings and positioning them as a modern, forward-thinking and holistic company. The new logotype, stationery, publications and website were developed to coincide with the company's 15th birthday.

This 16pp broadsheet is one of the publications produced for their anniversary, showing a selection of their projects. 

The finished size is 176x125mm folding out to 500x352mm.

The front side shows individual projects, allowing the space on the inside to be used for a large scale image (below) - showing the interior of Firmengebäude Flexim, Berlin.

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.

The 'birds eye' image, below shows the concertina fold...

Visual Identity and design is by Dan Cottrell.

The reproduction on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm is exceptional. Printing is by Push.

https://zrs-berlin.de/
www.dcottrell.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 11.04.2022

Jobs from the past - Number 149

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 one is from 2014 (although printed in 2015!)...

Dalziel and Pow - A Year in Review 2014

Every year Dalziel and Pow produce a yearbook to examine and appraise the company's work over the previous year. This would be a big ask for most companies, let alone one that has such a varied and diverse portfolio of work, over just a period of one year. Producing a book like this every year not only shows a commitment to the work that they have produced for clients but is also an historical record, which is an increasingly important factor in these days of electronic on-line impermanence!

This book is just a peerless production. The subject matter and images are superb and the creative direction, design, print production and binding make the publication absolutely superlative. In the beginning is their company statement and you can't get a clearer, or brighter image!

https://www.dalziel-pow.com/news/brand-new-company-book

Size of the book is 305x245mm, portrait, with a limp bound, 4pp cover and a 104pp text. It is printed on our lovely Omnia 320gsm (cover) and 150gsm (text). The pantone special (fluoro) yellow, is flat, matt and tactile just like you would want it and with a real intensity of colour.

Click on images to enlarge

I hope the images will do the talking...

Click on images to enlarge

...and here we go for the plug about the paper!  - As you can see from the images here, there is loads of colour and images with CMYK dark areas - lots of ink going down and it looks great on the Omnia, reproducing bright vibrant colours as well and the lighter more subtle tones as well, whilst retaining all that detail in those dark areas (in my opinion- but I would say that wouldn't I?)

Included within the 104pp page count are the first and last pages which have both been printed in the special pantone yellow which form 'end papers'.

An important feature that makes all the difference to this publication is the binding. It is a square backed limp bound book but the binding type that is used is called OTAbinding. This is a method of bookbinding that offers an elegant binding solution with advantages over conventional soft cover binding. One of the main advantages is that it lays flatter than a conventional section sewn book. It mimics the construction of a case bound book, so the spine of the text is free from the cover (see image below). It is this that results in the text and whole book laying flatter.

You can read more about it here: https://www.diamondprintservices.com/ota-binding/

The only visible difference between conventional binding and Otabound is the second crease (see above). Omnia 150gsm is very bulky paper, so the 104pp text gives the book a spine of 12mm.

Creative direction and design is by Dalziel and Pow. The main designers on the project are Kane Davis and Robin Gillard. One would expect their own book to be excellent and this publication is simply exceptional.

 

The book was printed by Team Impression in Leeds and just from the print point of view alone, it is superlative. The images are strikingly consistent and the finishing and binding are exemplary. A truly outstanding piece of print work. 

...my thanks to Simon Bucktrout at Team Impression for kindly sending me over some file copies.

And some bang up to date news is that Anthony Dearlove has just joined Team Impression, to service clients from his London base - good luck and best wishes to Anthony.

www.dalziel-pow.co.uk
www.team-impression.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.04.2022