Tuesday 6 December 2016

Call of the Wild

As Christmas draws closer, here are some wonderful examples of Christmas cards, all printed on our lovely Shiro Echo, Bright White 300gsm,  which is 100% recycled and has FSC Mix accreditation.
The cards are from a range called "Call of the Wild" by London based card publisher Roger La Borde. They are 4pp cards printed offset litho in four colours and the cards are either laser cut or embellished with hot foil blocking.
 
The below lasercut cards are illustrated by Antoana Oreski
The below card is illustrated by Jane Ray and is embellished with gold hot foil blocking in the illustration which works brilliantly well.
...credits on the reverse of the card showing the FSC logo.
The cards are published by Roger la Borde.

The cards are printed offset litho by Lion House Press who are in West London and the foiling is by Graphite Creative who are based in St Albans. The lasercutting is by Trilogy Lasercraft.

http://www.rogerlaborde.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 06.12.2016

Friday 2 December 2016

Jobs from the past - Number 86


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 here's one from 1995.  

D&AD Newsletter - December 1995
It's unlikely that D&AD needs much introduction. - Founded in London in 1962 as British Design & Art Direction by a group of creatives and art directors, it has since become a world renowned body championing design and creativity.
This piece of literature is an excellent example of the way communication worked in the pre-internet world! Back in 1995, Mary Lewis was president of D&AD and then, as now, the President's Lectures were a popular draw for creatives (back in these days, tickets were either ordered by post or telephone and sent out by post). Feedback from member indicated a desire for transcripts of the lectures to be printed, so that the content could be more widely circulated, so in this inaugural issue, the D&AD Newsletter was re-launched in December 1995, in the main, to disseminate the transcripts of the lectures.
The publication later became known as Ampersand and I will write about the later issues in the future.
Front Cover
Size of the publication is 445x315mm portrait and is a 16pp 'self cover' and is unbound. It has a wonderfully floppy and tabloid newspaper feel. It is printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 130gsm.

This issue covered the transcripts of the lectures given by Oliviero Toscani....
Click on images to enlarge
...and Maurice Saatchi.
The paper is a neutral white shade gives the publication a 'newsy' feel which really works with the images and most importantly, the pages which are purely type, as below:
Click on images to enlarge
The publication is printed offset litho in one colour (halftone or monotone printing) and the look and feel is just perfect. A well designed and thoughtful piece of print to be delivered, spread information and disposed of - just like a newspaper!

For a sense of scale, below is the outside back cover pictured with a 300mm ruler and a ballpoint pen, remember the size of the publication is  445x315mm.
The newsletter was printed by a company called Penshurst Press based in Tunbridge Wells. Sadly the company no longer exists - they wound up at the end of the nineties.

The design of the cover and contents is by Vince Frost. Deyan Sudjic gave the advice to Mary Lewis to "keep it simple" which this publication does admirably. Content is edited by David Robson of The Independent.

Photography by Giles Revell, cover photograph: Matthew Donaldson, Saatchi Image: David Levenson/Colorific, Toscani Image: A Rau/Sygma.

Vince Frost left for the sunnier climate of Australia just over fifteen years ago and runs Frost* in Sydney.

...and Fenner Paper? ...yep, we're still here!

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.12.2016

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Ten Trinity Square - Book II

This is one of a pair of books produced for a development called Ten Trinity Square. I wrote about the other book in October here. This is one of London’s landmark buildings overlooking the Thames at Tower Hill. Built over a century ago to house the Port of London Authority, it has now been re-developed by the Reignwood Group as an exclusive arrangement of residences, a luxury hotel and private club, all in association with Four Seasons. 

This book explains about the history of the area, the city and the people who have influenced the region throughout history. The pair of books have been produced to be on display in the atrium of the building on a specially made plinth designed by Daniel Weil of Pentagram.

These are the largest books to have ever appeared on this blog and is probably the most impressive I have ever had the pleasure of handling! The size of the book is 615mm square, yep that's right, well over half a metre! As a result, it's more than a bit tricky to photograph, so my apologies - click on the images to bring them up to a better size.
To give a sense of scale, the book is pictured with a 30cm ruler and pencil. The book is casebound and is covered in black Saffiano, which is first grade calf leather with a classical grain. The cover is embossed and hot foil blocked in metallic gold foil.
The book has 92pages, all printed on Omnia White 200gsm. Omnia is a very bulky paper and that's what a project like this needed, with the size of each page being over half a square metre! 
The image reproduction throughout the publication is simply wonderful with both the four colour images, the cool grey pantone special and solid blacks looking great.
Click on images to enlarge
The bookblock (just the pages) itself is 13mm thick. Below is a detail showing the ribbon.
To give a better sense of scale, below is an image with a full size 70cl bottle of wine by the book, which gives you some idea...
Below is a detail showing the spine. The book is 'quarter bound' with cloth around the spine. Don't forget, the spine you are looking at is 35mm! Rather than using a bookbinding grade greyboard, the internal structure of the case is supported with a material called Promolyte. This is a lightweight alloy which was used to increase the strength, stability and integrity of this huge leather cover.
Hot foil blocking on the black Saffiano leather is superlative.

Brand identity for the whole project, including this book, is by Pentagram. Design is by John Rushworth and Joe Stephenson. You can see more about the whole project here: http://www.pentagram.com/#/projects/121368

Original photography is by Richard Bryant. CGI's by Hayes Davidson and AB Concept.


Printing is by Gavin Martin Colournet. It is a stupendous book with stunning production values and it has been produced impeccably. If I was saying anything other than that, then the whole reason for producing this staggering publication to appear on display in the building, would be null and void. Together with the other book, this pair of books make the most stunning books ever!

http://www.tentrinitysquare.com/
http://www.reignwood.com/
http://www.pentagram.com/
http://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 29.11.2016

Friday 25 November 2016

New Flora Swatch

We have a brand new A5 swatch for our Flora range manufactured by Cordenons in Italy. 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 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...
Click on image to enlarge
...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/2015/06/baines-fricker.html
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/lower-mill-estate.html

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

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/en/home.html
http://www.cordenons.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 25.11.2016

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Mapping Progress

http://www.bioregional.com/Bioregional was founded in 1994 by Sue Riddlestone and Pooran Desai, two environmental activists and campaigners based in Sutton, South London who were keen to found practical green and sustainable initiatives. From small beginnings it has grown into an organisation which has founded several green enterprises, influences the sustainability of many thousands of new homes and works with global businesses to make their operations and strategy more sustainable.

This publication is their 2015-2016 annual review, titled "Mapping Progress"
 
The finished size is 295x170mm, and it is a broadsheet format folding out to a flat size of 850x590mm. It folds down to reveal the below...
 ...and then it concertina's out as you can see in the image below:
As one might expect from and environmental organisation, there are sustainable facets to the production of this report. To start with, it is printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm. The paper is a neutral white shade which really works with the images whilst also giving a 'nod' to the look and feel of a map, reproduced one side. It is printed offset litho and the whole job is just printed on one sheet of paper, with no binding, making this about as environmentally friendly (from a production point of view) as you can get.

Below are the images showing the flat size on both sides:
Click on images to enlarge
 
Design is by London based design company William Joseph and the creative director on the project is Stéphane Harrison. Print is by Pureprint.

...and thank you to Julia Hawkins at Bioregional for sending me copies of the report and the lovely note!
Posted by Justin Hobson 23.11.2016

Friday 18 November 2016

Linklaters Invitation

This is one of the most stupendous invitations to have appeared on this blog! The event is the Capital Markets Reception hosted by the legal firm Linklaters this month. The reception was held in the glamorous surroundings of the Claridge's Ballroom.


Titled with Shakespeare's erudite words "All the World's a Stage", the invitation is a genuinely theatrical production...
The invitation is a two part production - an invitation in a pocket. The finished size of the invite is A5 (210x148mm) with the black inner cards being 206x144mm, so they slip in nice and easily.
The red slipcase is produced using our Flockage Bright Red 400gsm, perfectly replicating red velvet theatre curtains. The inner invitation is on Colorplan Ebony 540gsm ( ...from the other well known, Hull based paper merchant!).
For those of you which are not familiar with this product, it is a flocked board which feels like a velvety cloth/material to the touch but which remarkably you can actually "flatten" the pile by use of a  "heat de-boss". In this case the shape of the curtains is not printed, it is "heat de-bossed" which creates the effect below:
...and it is then hot foil blocked in gold metallic foil - just look at the details on the tassels.
Below is a detail of the reverse of the slipcase, which shows what is described as the "nap" which is the pile found on velvet - just like the curtains in a theatre!
Concept and design is by GM Toucari, a London based legal communications agency. Project director is Gary Clark.

The superb execution of the project is by Benwells. They produced all the foiling and finishing - all of which is superlative. Paul Haslam at Benwells oversaw the project and thanks to Paul for sending me the samples

http://www.linklaters.com/
http://gmtoucari.com/
http://www.benwells.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 18.11.2016