100% Tree Free 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 12.07.2021

Letter to Gareth Southgate...

It was lovely of Her Majesty the Queen to write a letter to the England Manager...

I'm not sure what paper was used (I'm sure it's nice) but I hope it does the trick tomorrow evening and we can all complete the final line of the Fenner Paper Euro Wallchart, designed by David Coates.

Come on England!

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.07.2021

#TOGETHERBAND

#TOGETHERBAND is a global movement, uniting us all to share commitment to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) announced by the United Nations in 2015. These SDG's are an urgent call for action by all countries - developed and developing.

Ethically made and sustainably sourced, each #TOGETHERBAND represents a different goal and 100% of the proceeds are donated. #TOGETHERBAND is the brainchild of British luxury sustainable brand BOTTLETOP, co-founded by Cameron Saul and Oliver Wayman, There are 17 friendship bracelets representative of each goal and everyone is invited to choose the goal that matters most to them and share it with someone important to them - How? Well, with every friendship bracelet purchase, you receive a second band to give someone close to you, helping spread the word...

This is the clever and beautifully designed packaging that contains the two bands. There is a slipcase in which there are two angled boxes held tight. Overall size of the slipcase is 80 x 80 x 20mm.

The angled boxes are fastened with a tuck flap, opening out as the below image...

...and then revealing the band itself:

Underneath the band is a 14pp information leaflet 70mm square folding out to 70 x 490mm.

The paper and board chosen for the wrap/boxes is our Shiro Echo, Bright White 300gsm, from Favini, which is 100% recycled, FSC accredited and carbon balanced. You can read more about Shiro Echo here. The leaflet is printed on Shiro Echo, Bright White 90gsm. As you can see from the images, the solid is superbly printed and the board has cut and creased beautifully.

Print and production is by Identity Printers with Paul Winter handling the project and they are just gorgeous - colours are bright and solids are superb, all printed Offset Litho

https://togetherband.org/pages/our-story

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

Posted by Justin Hobson 08.07.2021

Hackney Winter Night Shelter R&A

Each winter, Hackney Winter Night Shelter (HWNS) provides food, shelter and a warm welcome to homeless people in Hackney. They help get their guests out of homelessness and into homes. A project of Hackney Doorways, HWNS is a grassroots project run by volunteers from Hackney churches and the local community providing a meal and a bed for homeless people at 13 different venues around Hackney.

This is their annual report for the latest financial year...

The size of the publication is 225x152mm, portrait and is a 24pp, self cover, on our Pergraphica Smooth, High White 150gsm. The design uses bold, solid colours made out of CMYK...

Click on images to enlarge

As you can see from the images above and below, there is lots of colour and images with CMYK dark areas - loads of ink going down and it looks great, reproducing images and solid colours superbly.

The self cover format on 150gsm flows really nicely in the hand.

Unlike many of the publications 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!

The job is beautifully finished and saddle stitched.

Creative Director is Louise Desborough at Loud Creative. The job was printed and finished by digital print company Typecast Colour, based in Paddock Wood, Kent. 

https://www.hwns.org.uk/ 

https://www.loud-creative.com/ 

http://www.typecast.co.uk/ 

 Posted by Justin Hobson 05.07..2021

Jobs from the past - Number 140

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. Given the sad news announced today that Gap is closing all it's UK retail outlets, I thought I'd show you this superb project for Gap from 2011.

Gap 1969 Premium Jeans - Spring 2011

This lovely look-book was produced to support the 1969 jeans campaign launch by Gap. Founded in 1969 in SanFrancisco in 1969 by Doris and Don Fisher. Gap's original intent was to make it easier for every customer to find a great fitting pair of jeans, a philosophy that lives on today.

Size is A5, portrait. It has a 4pp cover and a 12pp text, printed offset litho CMYK throughout. The text material is printed on Marazion Ultra 115gsm.

Cover is from the popular Hull based company on Colourplan 135gsm with a Buckram emboss. The cover also has a gloss UV varnish on the large 1969. It has a deliberately floppy feel which works really well for the denimy subject!

For readers not familiar with Marazion Ultra, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt (and some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't!) ...but this really is - and if you don't believe me, just ask for a sample!

Click on images to enlarge

...and here's the clever bit - see below image. The cover means the book works both ways round - one way men/womens, the other kids/baby. Not the first time it's been done but very effectively executed.

Below showing the kids/baby cover...

Click on images to enlarge

The job is nicely folded and creased, as you can see from the birsdeye view.

A nice touch is the use of black coloured wire stitching, as you can see below....

Printing is by Absolute Ink who were based in East London but they sadly went bust last year. Art director and designer on the project was Jonathan Baron from Studio Baron.

https://www.gap.com/

http://www.studio-baron.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.07.2021

New So...Silk Swatch

There are some new swatches in town!

So...Silk is a range of iridescent paper and board from the Cordenons paper mill in Italy. The paper has a luxurious matt finish which is pleasing to the touch, similar to the soft texture of silk.

There is 'White Style' and seven colours which have amazing depth, all with a sensuous silky touch.

This paper looks amazing and make any publication or packaging look really special. 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 29.06.2021

Light/Rock #4

Founded in 2008 by Adrian Strittmatter and Andreas Fux, Saentys now has offices in London, Paris, Lyon, Geneva and Zurich and are a leading specialist in bespoke destination marketing. Every so often, they produce a customer focused publication looking at projects, case studies, trends etc. and this is the latest superbly produced edition, produced at the end of last year...

Size is 330x240mm, portrait and is 6 hole sewn! with a 4pp cover and 48pp text. 

Click on images to enlarge

Following the introduction is a news section

Each section is separated by black divider spreads.

The paper used is our Omnia - 200gsm on the cover and 120gsm for the text. The reason that Omnia was chosen is because it would beautifully reproduce the photography with the rich imagery of locations, the solid blacks and dark, detailed images. Of course the most important thing is for the publication to be special - with the reproduction that you would expect on a silk or gloss but with a natural tactile uncoated feel.

The Omnia 120gsm is a bulky sheet, although it flows beautifully in the hand. The use of a 200gsm for a cover, would often be considered too light, until I tell you that Omnia 200gsm is 280 microns thick!

Click on images to enlarge

The below image shows half of the binding...

This type of binding is generally known as 'three hole sewn' - because there are three holes, the thread comes out of the middle up and into the top hole, down the inside of the book out of the middle hole again and now down to the lower hole and in again up the inside of the book to the middle hole, where it is knotted. In this case, there are two banks of three hole sewing, which holds the text and cover very securely. The below image shows the centre spread, where you can see both of the binding threads...

Centre spread...

Omnia has a dead matt, tactile feel but with great reproduction. All printed offset litho throughout. The publication has a fantastic feel - solid flat areas of colour work amazingly well - as you can see in the images below, the solid rich deep blue and the light nude shade both look fantastic with no mottle or patchiness - in fact they are flawless solids...

Click on images to enlarge

The publication has a total thickness of 5mm, but even though Omnia is bulky, the 48pp sits nice and flat and doesn't 'gape' in the spine.

Design is by Saentys. The exceptional printing is all offset litho with production handled by Nick Stacey at Ctrl-P, a bespoke print studio based in London.

https://www.saentys.com/

https://ctrl-p.studio/

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.06.2021