Jan Tschichold and the New Typography

On 29th April you can join author and curator Paul Stirton for an exciting Zoom lecture hosted by the St Bride Foundation. Paul Stirton was curator of the exhibition Jan Tschichold and the New Typography held in New York in 2019 and author of the book of the same title (Yale, 2019). His previous books include“Is Mr. Ruskin Living too Long?”: Selected Writings of E.W. Godwin(Oxford 2005). He is Professor of Modern European Design at the Bard Graduate Center in New York and editor of West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, published by University of Chicago Press.

During the 1920s Jan Tschichold began corresponding with many emerging graphic designers throughout Europe and the Soviet Union, offering to exchange works or requesting examples of adverts, posters and letterheads. What began as a means of educating himself in the principles of modern design, developed into a comprehensive survey collection of progressive graphics in Europe. Tschichold even referred to it as his “museum”. This collection is now dispersed, but we can recapture the spirit of the heroic period of modernism through Tschichold’s eyes by examining the designs he acquired.

This talk will illuminate works by some leading figures such as ElLissitzky, Kurt Schwitters, Moholy-Nagy and Piet Zwart, as well as lesser known designers like Johannes Molzahn, Walter Dexel and Max Burchartz.

Book Online HERE for an incredibly reasonable £5!

his talk is part of the ‘Celebrating 125 Years of St Bride Library’ lecture series and has kindly been sponsored by: Adobe Commercial Type, Eye Magazine, Eric de Bellaigue, Google, Jerry Wright, Just Another Foundry, Klim Type Foundry, Lexon GB, Creative & Innovative Print, Mayor of London, Medioto - Graphics & Animation, Peter Longland, R-Typography, Type By, Usborne Publishing and The Wynkyn de Worde Charitable Trust who have sponsored students and recent graduates across the UK to attend this lecture.

https://www.sbf.org.uk/whats-on/view/jan-tschichold-and-the-new-typography/

Posted by Justin Hobson 19.04.2021

Paper leaves...

At present, there aren't many good news stories in retail, however today (yes, today!) the US fashion and lifestyle brand Anthropologie opened a new store in the ancient university city of Cambridge. Anthropologie was founded in Pennsylvania, in 1992 and now operates over 230 stores worldwide, 15 of which are in the UK.

For the opening of the new store, the Anthropologie windows and interior of the store were dressed in bright Spring/Summer leaves which were all laser cut using Fenner Paper! We supplied a mixture of our Stardream (pearlescent board) and our Colorset 100% Recycled board - which were laser cut by Patternise and then hand assembled by Anthropologie’s window display team into these beautiful displays. The result is simply amazing - and plastic free!

The materials were chosen after testing the board for lasercutting at the studio. Patternise are based in Cranleigh, Surrey, specialising in creative design and laser-cutting services. They work with a wide range of clients across the UK - managing large volume projects for major corporates and visual merchandisers to smaller projects for individuals and weddings. Patternise use state of the art laser cutters and they specialise in cutting “clean” materials such as fine papers, cards, and plastics.

Here are detail images of the leaves. The shapes are produced using their "super pulsed" Trotec galvo system (GS1000), which enables extremely high-speed laser cutting and high volume paper finishing. Using this system they are able to cut many 1000's of sheets within very quick time-frames, which would be impossible with conventional lasers.

With thanks to the team at Anthropologie for the images and to Rob at Patternise for the technical information.

https://www.anthropologie.com/ 

https://www.patternise.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.04.2021

New Dali Swatch

There are some new swatches in town ...!

The Dali range is a 'feltmarked' text and cover range manufactured by the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. We have been selling Dali for over twenty years and supplied it for the Historic Royal Palaces, Textile Conservation Studio review, printed in 1996, which you can read about HERE 

Click on images to enalrge

Since those days, there have been new shades, such as the Banana, which is used on the cover and there are thirteen shades in total including four white shades, Candido, Neve, Bianco and Camoscio.

Dali has a subtle linear feltmark, which I hope you will be able to see in the image below...

Click on images to enlarge

This paper can look amazing and make a publication look really special, as it did for the Textile project I referred to earlier. For that project, from a range of different papers shown to the client, the feedback was that "Dali is the paper which most represents the tactility and weave of cloth"

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

http://www.gruppocordenons.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 15.04.2021

Charleston Press No. 3

Nestled in the South Downs, Charleston was the country meeting place for the writers, painters and thinkers known as the Bloomsbury group. Now run by the Charleston Trust, the house is an excellent museum and visitor attraction, presented to look as it did when the family lived there in the 1950's. The walled garden was created by the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant to designs by Roger Fry and features Mediterranean influences with plants chosen for their intense colour and silver foliage. These became the subject of many works over their long residence at Charleston. 

Published by the Charleston Trust, the Charleston Press includes includes newly commissioned essays exploring the themes, artists and stories of the exhibitions and programmes at Charleston, as well as articles marking important Bloomsbury anniversaries and events. This is the third edition.

Size is 220x170mm, portrait and is perfect bound. The publication has an 8pp 'dustjacket' around the cover as you can see from the birdseye image below...

The below image shows the book (with the Colorset Mango cover) out of the dustjacket (100mm flaps) plus the wrap-around belly-band.

The 4pp cover, which is secreted under the dustjacket, is produced on our Colorset Mango (100% Recycled) 270gsm and is unprinted, being simply, but beautifully, debossed.

The 96pp text is printed offset litho on our Omnia 120gsm. Omnia was chosen because it would beautifully reproduce the wide variety of different media, the artworks, solid colours and dark photography and most importantly feel special - with the reproduction that you would expect on a silk or gloss but with a natural tactile uncoated feel

The majority of this issue is dedicated to articles about the Omega Workshops, based in Fitzroy Square, London in the early 20th Century. An exhibition about the Omega workshops was hosted in the galleries at Charleston.

A chapter titled 'Shy radishes' shows some of the Charleston ceramics in use with superbly photographed still life images

Click on images to enlarge

The wrap around bellyband (70mm high) which tucks into the book, is printed on our Sixties 60gsm and because of the translucency, the background image shows through beautifully.

Below image shows the 8mm spine, the perfect binding. The jacket is printed on Omnia 150gsm.

The reproduction on the Omnia is just something else, the level of detail and reproduction is superb as you can see the image below.

The publication is designed by Playne Design who have studios in London and Hastings. Creative Director is Clare Playne. Print production is by Pureprint. Like the first edition, this is an excellent example of a beautifully designed and well executed piece of print, entirely right for the subject. The publication is available for sale (at a very reasonable £5) HERE 

https://www.charleston.org.uk/

http://www.playnedesign.co.uk/

https://www.pureprint.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.04.2021

Surfers against Sewage - The Million Mile Clean

Today, Surfers Against Sewage launched their Million Mile Clean. Created in response to the pandemic, the Million Mile Clean connects your beach, street, river and mountain cleaning action. Running throughout the year, we aim to inspire, empower and support 100,000 volunteers walking 10 miles whilst cleaning the places they love. It will be the biggest and most impactful clean up event ever! 

100,000 volunteers x 10 miles each = 1 million miles. 

According to new research...

• Over half of Brits (54%) think COVID-19 has led to an increase in plastic pollution 
• Almost two-thirds (59%) have seen more waste in their area over the last 12 months. 
• 51% say they see more plastic on UK beaches than wildlife 
• 41% Brits feel their mental health has deteriorated as a result of lockdown 

"This campaign reflects and celebrates a national mood of hope and optimism as the country emerges from a dark winter spent in lockdown. Now more than ever, it is crucial for us all to reconnect with the outdoors and the Million Mile Clean provides an opportunity for you to prioritise your health whilst also creating a positive impact on your environment."

The campaign was featured on all the national news channels this morning and you can read more about the campaign here: https://www.sas.org.uk/news/100000-volunteers-x-10-miles-for-the-million-mile-clean/

In 2017, I wrote about a publication for a Community project for Surfers Against Sewage...

Established in 1990 by people (originally surfers) who were sick of seeing sewage in the sea and on beaches.  It was their direct contact with the ocean and sadly the chronic sewage pollution of the time that was the visceral driving force behind the emerging organisation, something that remains strong to this day. However marine plastic pollution and climate change are now the new issues of concern.

The project used our Favini SHIRO Alga Carta, Bianco, chosen because it was in keeping with the sustainable nature of the project, because it is manufactured partly using algae harvested from the Venice lagoon, combined with recycled and FSC certified fibres.

Design is by Leap based in Cornwall and you can read about the project HERE

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.04.2021

Billy Tannery Business Cards

Billy Tannery started with a discovery. Founders Jack and Rory found out that due to decades of decline in the British leather industry, many thousands of goatskins leftover from the food industry were being thrown away each year. So in 2016, building on centuries of local leather knowledge, they transformed a farm building in the Midlands into a small-batch tannery - the first to be built in the UK for well over 50 years! ...and these are their cracking business cards.

What better paper to print the publication on than a paper made using 25% upcycled leather! Remake is the range produced by Favini and is leather ‘upcycling’ on an industrial scale and represents the latest frontier in upcycling in the paper sector. This unique and innovative paper replaces 25% of wood tree pulp with leather residues. You can read more about Remake here.

Size of the cards is 53x85mm and are printed on Remake, Sand 380gsm.

Click on images to enlarge

In the detail image below you can see the visible leather fibres in the sheet and the proud statement about the paper's provenance.

The cards are printed and finished by Typecast Colour, based in Paddock Wood, Kent and was printed on their Xerox digital press. 

https://billytannery.co.uk/

http://www.typecast.co.uk/ 

Posted by Justin Hobson 06.04.2021

Jobs from the past - Number 137

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 projects from years gone by and here's one from 2012.

The Wallpaper*Architects Directory 2012

Truly international, consistently intelligent and hugely influential, Wallpaper* is the world's most important design and style magazine. This piece of literature was produced to accompany an exhibition showing 20 architects from around the world. The exhibition was sponsored by Land Securities.

The finished size is 99x210mm which folds in half and then concertina folds out to an A1 size (420x594mm). Printed offset litho in CMYK throughout.

Front...

Click on images to enlarge

Reverse...

The designer on the project was Claudine Cockburn and as it happens, I still have her original brief, which is as follows: "I am working on a little catalogue project for an up and coming exhibition we are hosting in a few weeks time. The exhibition features architecture works from our directory which have been stitched by Peter Crawley onto thick slightly off white textured paper. The catalogue is actually going to be an A2 poster which will fold out and be given out at the exhibition. We will need around 700 posters. I wondered firstly, with our design we would like a little show through on the paper but ideally a little texture too" You can see the excellence of the commissioned artwork (both sides) in the below image...

My suggestion was possibly a rather unusual one, it was our Modigliani Candido 95gsm, from Gruppo Cordenons. It's really rather hard to demonstrate on a job like this, just how perfectly the material works with the artwork, it is simply superb. The underlying texture from the original artwork, which is scanned and printed has reproduced perfectly and you get the texture in the feel, through your fingers. 

Just to demonstrate, I have taken an image of the texture of the Modigliani, which is a feltmarked paper here...

Anyway, this is one small project that I'm particularly pleased about my involvement with - looks (and feels) as good today as it did nine years ago.

So where is everyone now...? Designer on the project was Claudine Cockburn, who is now a Senior Designer at D8 in Glasgow. Art Director was Sarah Douglas. Since 2012, she was appointed creative director and in 2017 she became Editor in Chief of Wallpaper*. Printing was by FE Burman, with Paul Regan looking after the project. Burman's is one of the last printers based in central London and has recently invested in the latest HP Indigo B2 press and Paul is the Sales Director.

https://www.wallpaper.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 03.04.2021