Friday 1 September 2017

Jobs from the past - Number 95

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...

Boots Company Report and Accounts 1997
I was reminded about this project from twenty years ago as this project uses paper made at the Curtis Fine Paper, Guardbridge Paper Mill, which has since closed and now houses the Eden Mill brewery and distillery, which I wrote about below.

Up until the early 2000's the design and printing of company annual report and accounts was VERY big business. In the burgeoning design market of the 1980's and 90's There were many design companies which specialised in just annual reports (the likes of Michael Peter, Bamber Forsyth, Benjamin Rowntree, Radley Yeldar etc) and printers who would specialise in printing them such as Greenaway Harrison, Litho-Tech, Oakley Press, White Dove etc.

Back in those dim and distant days, it was very common for Annual Reports to be divided into the Report - printed on a white paper, printed in four colour process (with photographs!) and the Accounts section - printed on a coloured paper ...and this job follows that pattern.

This is the Report and Accounts for the Boots Company, the group of companies based on the Nottingham chemists founded in 1849 by John Boot. Back in 1997 they were a PLC in the FTSE 100, however ten years ago they were bought by a private equity firm based in Switzerland. The design is by Addison and the printer was Litho-Tech.

The size of the report is 297x180mm, portrait. It has a 4pp cover, which is printed in a blue and is matt laminated.
Below you can see the split between the two sections.
According to my notes, the 36pp front 'report' section was printed on Zanders Megamatt 150gsm, printed in CMYK, possibly with a special and a 'spot gloss machine varnish' which was a highly desirable effect back in those days.
The 44pp 'accounts' section is where I came in! I was briefed by Karen Blades, Production Manager at Addison to provide a bespoke paper to what was described as a 'post it note yellow' shade, which as you can see from the result below, we managed to achieve.
Click on images to enlarge
We decided to work with Curtis Fine Paper, who at the time had two paper mills in Scotland, one at Dalmore and one at Guardbridge, previously they were know as GB Paper. I sent the mill a sample of the colour and the received a couple of 'lab samples' made in the technical department at the mill. These were then forwarded to Addison and eventually to the end client for approval. I've written about what a mill making is here:
https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/what-is-mill-making.html

In this instance, the mill agreed to make a 2 tonne trial so a small group went to the mill to see the paper as it was being made. This was pretty unusual even in those days! ...so I visited the Guardbridge mill accompanied by Karen Blades from Addison and Derek Adnitt and Les Baker from Litho-Tech printers. As a result we were able to show the client EXACTLY the paper they were getting.

After that trial, Boots were shown the paper, it was approved and then the mill manufactured the remainder of the paper.
 - and back in those days everything was done by fax and fortunately I still have the fax in my archive with the approval...

Click on images to enlarge
The printers called Litho-Tech were based in Kennington, London who at the time was one of the leading corporate printers in London if not the UK. Sadly like many printers of that era, the company no longer exists. It was printed offset litho. My notes aren't completely clear but I recall it was about 16 tonnes . Derek Adnitt was the sales director, Les Baker, the production manager and Paul Watson the Managing Director. Here are the credits which are in the back of the report.
Karen Blades now works at Print Source UK and still spends her time producing quality annual reports!

...a real trip down memory lane!

http://www.boots.com/
https://www.addison-group.net/
Posted by Justin Hobson 01.09.2017

Thursday 31 August 2017

Eden Mill

Last week I was in Scotland on holiday and visited St Andrews. We were booked onto a gin tasting tour at Eden Mill and was surprised when we arrived that the distillery and brewery is actually in the the former Guardbridge Paper Mill, which until 2008 many of you would have known as Curtis Fine Paper.
The Fife-based Eden Brewery became Scotland’s first combined brewery and distillery in 2014, when they branched out into making Scotch Whisky and Gin. The move also represented a slight twist in history as before becoming the Guardbridge mill making paper, the mill was a distillery owned by the Haig family, called the Seggie Distillery between 1810 and 1860.

Guardbridge Paper Mill - early 20th century?
The former paper mill buildings which now house the Eden Mill Distillery and Brewery.
The mill clock, which still works...
Inside the distillery, the former paper mill offices are now tasting rooms and administration offices.
Many of the original mill fittings and fixtures in this listed building are still in place.
As Scotland's first single-site distillery and brewery, making gin, whisky and beer, Eden Mill spirit is created by distillers in copper pot-stills and exhibits a wide range of flavours from botanicals sourced from the local area, as well as from around the world - and I tasted all of them, courtesy of our excellent and knowledgeable guide.
I've previously written about other paper mills which are now being used for other uses, including one owned by Google as a data centre:

..and one used as a shopping centre:
https://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/from-paper-mill-to-shopping-mall.html

I hope Eden Mills continues to expand and utilise more of the former mill site ...just so long as they can retain their craft heritage and hand made ethos.
https://www.edenmill.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 31.08.2017
 
...the last time I visited Curtis Fine Papers, Guardbridge Mill was in 1997 to see the paper being made for the Boots annual report, which I shall write about on my next "job from the past" post tomorrow! 


Monday 28 August 2017

Caramel Spring/Summer 17

Eva Karayiannis, founded Caramel in 1999. Originally from Greece, she came to London to study the history of Art at Sotheby's, eventually establishing a business selling and ultimately designing children's clothes. Caramel is known for its fresh silhouettes, distinctive colour ways and intricate attention to detail.
 
This is the look-book for the Spring Sumer collection. The format is a very simple 16pp broadsheet, which opens easily to read and displays a large poster type area, when fully open.
Size is 594mm x 420mm  folding to 210x148mm. The birds eye view below should give you the best idea of the format and the way it works.
The paper chosen is our Omnia Natural 120gsm because it would work with the intricate detail that is present in the images but that would give a natural look and tactile feel. It is printed offset litho in four colour process (CMYK) and as you can see from images, some of the images have dark areas, but there is no loss of detail, which is what can often happen printing on an uncoated paper. The neutral shade of the Omnia Natural works just right with these images.

Outside spreads folded out
Click on images to enlarge
Inside spread, folded out flat:
It is printed offset litho in four colour process (CMYK) and as you can see from the spreads, some of the images have dark areas, but there is no loss of detail, which is what can often happen printing on an uncoated paper. The neutral shade of the Omnia Natural works exceptionally well with these images. The below image demonstrates the amount of detail that is retained in the shirt and the vibrant colours.
Art direction and design is by the in-house studio at Caramel based in London.  Printing is by Gemini Print, based in Brighton.

http://www.caramel-shop.co.uk/
http://gemini-print.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 28.08.2017

Thursday 24 August 2017

It's a wrap!

‘FORGETTABOUT IT’ is American artist Joyce Pensato’s second exhibition with Lisson Gallery and was shown this summer. This is the 142 page hardback book published to coincide with the exhibition. Featuring an entirely new body of work, encompassing large-scale paintings, drawings and a site-specific wallpaper installation, this catalogue is a survey of Pensato’s collaboration with Lisson Gallery over the last three years.
Size of the book is 290x245mm, portrait and it has a 'bookjacket' printed on our wonderfully lightweight Offenbach Bible 60gsm.
...except this is no ordinary 'bookjacket' as it folds out further to reveal a complete artwork at a size of  560x 910mm.  
Click on images to enlarge
Printed one side only, offset litho in CMYK and hot foil blocked in metallic gold foil, you can see detail of the foiling below:
Catalogue is published by the Lisson Gallery. Edited by Louise Hayward and Ossian Ward. Design is by Zoë Anspach.
Print is by Pureprint.

http://www.lissongallery.com/artists/joyce-pensato
http://www.pureprint.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 24.08.2017

Friday 18 August 2017

Oxford Mathematics - Notebooks

William Joseph were commissioned to create a world-facing identity for the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford. Their solution was to use Sir Roger Penrose’s P3 tiling to form the basis of an identity that can be applied flexibly across different materials.
One of the items that the identity was applied to is this neat little set of notebooks.
 
The notebooks are A5, portrait and are simply printed offset litho in a silver special only (1 colour) on the cover and 'bellyband'.
Click on images to enlarge
The use of the silver is amazingly effective:
The cover of the notebooks are printed on our Colorset 100% Recycled 120gsm and the colours used are Spring Green, Solar and Flint.
Click on images to enlarge
Each of the notebooks has an 8pp cover, which is on the 120gsm. Combined with the 64pp text which is unprinted on our Shiro Echo, White 80gsm, they have a wonderfully unstructured feel which means they flow beautifully but don't feel flimsy.
...they flow
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 and notebook makeup is by Pureprint.

http://www.williamjoseph.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 18.11.2017

Thursday 17 August 2017

Doppelgänger

Today I had a bit of a shock when I went to visit one of our favourite customers in East London. I was delivering some samples into Gavin Martin Colournet when I was greeted by a very good looking fellow, who looked just like me!
I wasn't actually aware that a celebrity face mask kit was available for me and it turns out that sadly they aren't available in the shops ...Dave Miller had actually made a Justin Hobson facemask!

Using their excellent repro and printing skills, I think they actually managed to make me look slightly better (definitely shorter) than I do in real life! -  thanks for brightening up my day!

ALSO...
Do have a look at the new Gavin Martin Colournet website which shows lovely work and has a wonderful new film by Jonathan Arundel: https://www.gavinmartincolournet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.08.2017

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Workshop Fun

Last week, I organised for a small group from The Partners to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation. There were about twenty of us in all and after an introduction and briefing by Michael Clayton the group were encouraged to have a go at setting type, inking up and printing.

For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop, meeting and conference rooms. It is still located in the original building, just off Fleet Street.
As well as printing, Andrew Long demonstrated lino-cutting and most people had a go. As the name suggests, this technique is actually engraving into a piece of floor linoleum, which is then inked and used to print from. The results can be amazing! ...you can see the concentration at the lino cutting bench below:
Andrew, selected one of Stanley Donwood’s London Flood prints. The engraving which was divided into 15 pieces which were then individually cut by different people over the course of the evening. I even had a go and this was my section (as you can see, I initialled it with a cheeky J!)
At the end of the evening the pieces were assembled and below, you can see Marc Spicer printing the result: 
...and here he is holding up the finished result:
Below is the comparison with the original on the right hand side
You might have spotted there is a head floating in the river which looks like me! Thanks to Nick Eagleton's lino cutting skills, he used his piece of lino to produce a likeness of me, which he also used to print me a card below
You can read a far more erudite version of the evening on The Partners blog written by Marc: http://www.the-partners.com/blog/2017/8/11/letter-heads

It was a really fun evening, where everyone got a chance to have a go and join in. We had some food and a few drinks laid on at St Bride's and a few of us even made it to The Old Bell on Fleet Street afterwards!
My thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Mick Clayton, Andrew Long and Bob Richardson who made the evening really good fun.

I just wanted to note that Peter Smith who is resident wood engraver at St Bride was unable to join us as he is recovering after an operation but I want to wish him well and a speedy recovery.

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.08.2017