Print companies insolvencies on the increase...

This report has appeared in Printweek today:

Jo Francis at Printweek reports...

"The latest information on company insolvencies in England and Wales from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that, during a time of persistently high energy prices, more than one in ten businesses overall reported a “moderate-to-severe risk of insolvency” in August. The number of insolvencies has been on the rise since last year. During 2020 and in Q1 2021 many firms that would otherwise have failed were kept afloat by government support measures such as the furlough scheme. In Q2 2022 the total number of insolvent companies was 5,629, the highest level since Q3 2009. The category of ‘printing and reproduction of recorded media, accounted for around 10% of insolvencies in the manufacturing industry in H1. In Q2 49 printing firms went bust, the highest level since Q3 2013."

You can read the full article here:

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/print-insolvencies-on-the-rise

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.10.2022

Today is James Bond Day

Global James Bond Day is celebrated on the date of the premier of the first Bond movie Dr. No, which premiered on October 5th, 1962...

What better time to review these superb invitations produced for Skyfall, printed on our Sumo and Omnia...

SKYFALL 2012

The James Bond franchise is a global phenomenon and one which over the years has made those involved in the production and marketing a lot of money. However many people may not remember that due to the recession, Bond film number 23 (as Skyfall was then known) was put on hold in 2010 due to lack of cash. Having originally meant to be released in 2011, it was eventually released in October 2012.

Film Premieres of this scale demand lavish and expensive invitations and collateral. In quality terms they must live up to and possibly exceed, the expectations of the forthcoming film.

Below is a small 4pp wallet (with pocket) which is 180mmx107mm, printed offset litho in CMYK plus a gold special colour on Omnia 280gsm with the ticket printed CMYK and hot foil blocked in metallic gold foil on Omnia 280gsm duplexed to 560gsm.  

Click on images to enlarge

The ticket is also hot foil blocked on the reverse.

The launch of this type of film requires several events and these represent tickets for the screenings at The Royal Albert Hall, the Odeon Leicester Square and the after show party at the Tate. As you will notice from the reverse of the wallet (below) the litho printed gold actually looks gold! ..this is a feature of Omnia and where is scores over ordinary uncoated papers.

Below is the ticket for the Odeon Leicester Square which is 99x210mm, Landscape.

The ticket is printed in CMYK plus gloss black foil, which you can hopefully see in the picture below.

This ticket which is also printed on Omnia 280gsm is mounted on our Sumo 2000microns which makes the invitation 2.5mm thick!

Printing is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and they made a superb job of it - colour reproduction 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')

http://www.identityprint.co.uk/
https://www.007.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 05.10.2022

Jobs from the past - Number 155

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 2012...

Irrational Marks: Bacon and Rembrandt - 2012

Irrational Marks: Bacon and Rembrandt was an exhibition hosted by Savile Row gallery, Ordovas and was concerned with the influences of Rembrandt's self-portraits on Francis Bacon's own self-portraits.

Here's the description of the idea by the designer of the book: "Bacon kept a number of documents and source images relating to Rembrandt's work in his studio. The cover image is one of those working documents on show in the exhibition. Covered in paint from his studio, folded and creased, it represents both artists who lived three hundred years apart. The typography draws you into the eyes, something which Bacon refers to in his acknowledgement of the influence of Rembrandt on his work. The red lettering on the cover along with the red endpapers give a spark of energy and echo the life which is present in both the artists' works."

The size of the book is 240x310mm, portrait and is section sewn, casebound in a paper over board cover. The end-papers are our Colorset Bright Red 120gsm. The 88pp text is divided between two papers. The majority of the book with both editorial content and images is printed on our our Omnia 150gsm which works brilliantly with both the reproduction of the oil paintings and the mono photography (below).

The remainder of the text showing the finished works is on 170gsm silk coated paper.

Design and art direction is by Sinéad Madden and it really is a beautifully designed book. Sinéad also created the exhibition identity, invitations, signage and advertising.

 

Faultless print and finishing is by Pureprint.

https://www.ordovasart.com/

https://sineadmadden.co.uk/

https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.10.2022

Healeys Calendar 2022

The 2022 calendar from Healeys Printers is printed on a variety of recycled an environmentally friendly stocks. This month it is printed on our Colorset Blush 350gsm

Healeys are based in Ipswich and are one of a handful of printers who are registered as a 'Carbon Balanced Printer' by the World Land Trust and can offer a totally carbon balanced printing service including the paper and all aspects of production and delivery.

The size of each of the calendar leaves is 155x180mm and each month is printed on a different board - each is a recycled or environmentally friendly grade. Not all the papers used are from Fenner Paper, but we are fortunate enough to have our papers used for May (Colorset Sandstone) and September (Colorset Blush)

A really super calendar and a great idea to show what print can do.

https://healeys-printers.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 28.09.2022

Arjowiggins Mills go into adminstration

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-63001007

There is very sad news that the Arjowiggins paper mills in the UK have been placed into administration. There are two paper mills involved employing over 460 people, the mills are in Stoneywood (near Aberdeen) and Chartham in Kent. The same Arjowiggins mills were last in administration in 2019 and the mills in France were either closed or sold but these two UK mills were bought by the management in a deal which was backed to the tune of £7million by Scottish Enterprise. The group also has overseas subsidiaries include the Guarro Casas mill in Spain, and Quzhou mill in China, neither of which is included in the insolvency proceedings ( ...which is a bit strange!)

https://www.printweek.com/news/article/administrators-take-charge-at-historic-arjo-mills

Arjowiggins manufacture many of the brands that readers of this blog will be familiar with including the Curious Collection, Keaykolour, Popset, Conqueror, Rives, which are shown in their lavish swatchbooks (design by North)...

As a result of this situation there may well be shortages for some of these papers. At Fenner Paper, we are increasing our stockholding, especially of our Stardream range (which is a competitor product to Curious Metallics) our Zeta range of premium business stationery paper, our Colorset text and cover coloured paper range and of course our Spectral transparent paper range.

Posted by Justin Hobson 23.09.2022  

L&W Appartments

...just the cover makes the difference!

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

This 48pp brochure is for a residential development but the content is much more that of a magazine with eight writers and articles about the area, the architecture and the geography. The finished size is 380x285mm, portrait and is singer sewn. The 48pp text is printed on an uncoated paper.

The cover is printed on our Crush, Corn 250gsm and in fact it isn't printed using ink, it is simply hot foil blocked in a black gloss foil on both the front and back cover.

As you can see from the image below, the foiling looks amazing and you can see the subtle specks in the paper.

Quality of the singer sewing is superb

Design is by Ignite, who are based in Hoxton Square in London. You can read more about the project here. Print is by Gavin Martin.

https://longandwaterson.com/
http://ignitetv.com/
https://www.gavinmartin.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.09.2022

WPF Therapy Literature

WPF Therapy began life in 1969 as the Westminster Pastoral Foundation at the Methodist Central Hall in Westminster. They have grown to become a significant national provider of psychodynamic counselling, therapy and training and are based in a modern, purpose-designed centre in London Bridge. WPF provide affordable therapeutic services to promote mental and emotional well-being, provide training and educational opportunities for therapists and cares, engaging in research into mental health and raising awareness of mental health issues.

This delightful information pack has been thoughtfully designed and produced. The outer 6pp folder is 225x115mm with a 10mm spine, printed offset litho in solid grey (special pantone colour) with type reversed white out and hot foil blocking in bright yellow, gloss, pigmented foil.

Printed on StarFine 350gsm it produces a really nice 'solid' square pack.

Below picture shows the folder open, with "Making life feel better" also hot foil blocked.

...and this is where is starts getting clever! The below picture shows the folder open with a capacity pocket on the middle panel. In the pocket is an array of the WPF lead colours used in the identity, all at different angles.

If you take out what appears to be a booklet, it is as below.

BUT ...and here's the clever bit, it's five individual 6pp leaflets, all die cut at angles that just hold together, without binding, that make up this one 'booklet' like so..

with the beauty being that they can still be used as individual leaflets, or as one booklet. Incredibly simple and extremely effective. The image below shows the individual leaflets.

Each of the 6pp leaflets is printed on StarFine 200gsm, which is the perfect weight, heavy enough to hold together to make the booklet without being too 'springy'. All print is offset Litho and the colours are all made out of tints, not specials. The image below shows the reverse of all the individual leaflets:

There are also appointment cards also printed on the StarFine 200gsm in the same colour references.

The identity and design (including the website) is by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne.

This is just an excellent example of a well thought out and well executed piece of print. Good consideration of the format, materials and printing processes is where this job scores most highly. It's not lavish or expensive and it's entirely appropriate for the client.

Printing and the tricksy die cutting is by Banbury Litho.

https://wpf.org.uk/
https://playnedesign.co.uk/
https://www.banburylitho.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.09.2022