Friday 30 September 2011

Fabergé Horlogerie

This is a most beautifully produced book for the imperial Russian jewellers Fabergé. The company is well known for the famous eggs but over the centuries has also been a watchmaker of note and this book is produced to show the heritage and the current range of timepieces.

Size of the book is 215x215mm square and is casebound. The 56pp text is printed on our Omnia 150gsm which was chosen because of tactile uncoated feel which still prints so that metallics look metallic! It really is beautiully printed and bound. The endpapers are also on our Colorset, Ash 120gsm. The text is printed offset litho in CMYK plus a grey special.

The case is covered in a light grey bookcloth Brillianta 4003 from Winters with a hot foil blocked Fabergé logo, in gunmetal, silver.

Art Direction and design is anonymous.  Print is by Push.

http://www.faberge.com/
http://www.push-print.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 30.09.2011

Thursday 29 September 2011

Anthony Burrill Poster

I've written before about the "DO" lectures - an organisation started by David Hieatt, one of the founders of Howies - see previous post: http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2009/07/do-lectures.html
Below is a lovely promo poster designed by Anthony Burrill which is being sold to raise funds for the organisation, which held it's first US gathering, this year.

The poster has been printed using woodblock type in a limited edition of 150 copies. Size is 510x760mm - that's 20 x 30 inches or Double Crown in "old money"! Printed letterpress in two colours on our Colorset Solar 120gsm (100% recycled).
The posters are printed by Adams of Rye, which is one of the few places that prints letterpress using woodblock and cast metal type. The company has been used by Anthony Burrill and other artists extensively, they've even recently printed for Turner Prize winning Artist Fiona Banner

Adams of Rye is run by Ian and Derek and as they have no website, here are their details:

Adams of Rye Ltd.
8 High Street
Rye, East Sussex, TN31 7JH

Tel 01797 223136 Fax 01797 223380

...but I did find this on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/-phraser-/5025567731/

You can order a poster from the site below:
http://www.dolectures.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 29.09.2011

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Treasures of Heaven

This is the invitation literature for a current exhibition at the British Museum, called Treasures of Heaven. For the first time some of the
finest sacred treasures of the medieval age have been brought together and this exhibition features objects from more than 40 institutions around the world, including the Vatican.

The invitations are A5 in size. There were two criteria for this project: Firstly, the board had to print a really good black and secondly a nice heavy board was required. Our Matrisse in 450gsm (620microns thick) was used and the result is superb. Printed CMYK plus a dense black and a double hit of Gloss UV (silkscreened) varnish.

Design is by Constanza Gaggero. Print is by Fulmar Colour.

....and thank you to Paul at Fulmar Colour for sending me some samples and a note.

...you'll have to hurry as the exhibition ends on 9th October.

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.09.2011

Monday 26 September 2011

Graphic Design Walk

On Friday, the very first "graphic design walk", hosted by GraphicBirdWatching took place. The walk round East London involved 15 studios of acclaimed female designers working in the fields of typography, print-making, illustration, photography and film-making. By opening their doors, the studios allowed a unique insight into their working environments and practices.
...and over 300 maps (tickets) were sold, so the event was an amazing success. Good weather, meant that people could actually walk as well as cycle to make their way around the studios. It was a lovely day which ended up with a celebration at the base camp venue which had many installations and exhibits. I enjoyed being there and it was great to be involved.
This was a particularly amazing piece on display - made out of paper, by visual designer Alida Rosie Sayer:

It was a great day and congratulations to all those involved, especially Catherine Nippe, Lisa Sjukur and Joana Niemeyer.

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.09.2011

Thursday 22 September 2011

Ultrabold No.10

I have just received my copy of the Summer edition of Ultrabold magazine, which is the Journal of the St Bride Library - if you don't know about St. Brides - see http://www.stbride.org/
Fenner Paper is pleased to support this publication, by supplying discounted material - hopefully doing our bit to preserve the history of our industry for future generations. This edition has some really interesting articles, worth a mention.
In this issue, there is a very interesting article by David Preston, titled "Corporate Trailblazers" charting the path of a number of post war designers (as opposed to ad agencies). Designers such as FHK Henrion, Design Research Unit and Hans Schleger all come under the spotlight (spread below)
Given the "Riotous" summer that we had in the UK, there is a fascinating article about the posters and artworks that appeared during the student protests in Paris in 1968: 
...and a fab article about the Stempel Schriftenservice letterpress museum and workshop in Darmstadt.
The publication is designed by Simon Loxley and is published by the Friends of St Brides.Printing is sponsored by Principal Colour. The journal is a 40pp self cover, 190x265mm Portrait, saddle stitched and is printed on Brand X FSC 135gsm.

As I've mentioned before, it's worth mentioning that this publication is free to friends of St Bride - so why not look into joining - might be cheaper than just buying the books!

http://www.stbride.org/
http://www.principalcolour.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 22.09.2011

Wednesday 21 September 2011

The Way We Live Now - Terence Conran Part2

Photographer Neil Wilder
[John Parkinson Agency]
Yesterday evening I was pleased to have been invited to a talk/presentation /celebration for Sir Terence Conran. See previous post:
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2011/09/way-we-live-now-terence-conran.html

Deyan Sudjic, Fiona MacCarthy, Christopher Frayling and Stephen Bayley gave talks about Conran's life, inspiration and achievements. It was interesting, historical and inspirational - when you review someone's achievements in this way, it can leave one feeling a little lacking!

He has influenced virtually every area of design – furniture, textiles, retailing home furnishings, interiors, commercial environments, airport interiors, designing and running restaurants cafés, bars and hotels.
 
Conran says he has a fundamental aim – to produce useful things at a price that most people can afford. This maybe so, but what I found most interesting was Stephen Bayley's comment that whether it concerned food or design (and he explained the interconnection) that Conran cared for these three principles:
  • Materials
  • Execution
  • Details 
...maybe this is genuinely the route to intelligent design (and no, I don't think that sounds too pompous). It was fascinating too, that his interest in natural products mainly manifested itself in the use of wood - so I'm sure he has an appreciation of quality paper!
I also found interesting parallels with the piece I wrote recently about Robert Welch:
...and it was interesting that the piece I wrote about the late Rowley Atterbury, listed three past recipients of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA)  Bicentenary Medal: Terence Conran, Deyan Sudjic and Christopher Frayling, all people involved in this very evening...
http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.com/2011/03/rowley-atterbury-printer.html
sadly not a medal that I'll be receiving, but an interesting link between the past and the present.

I think talks/lectures/presentations like this are essential to go to. To hear dynamic people, to be inspired by recent history can surely only serve to enhance our daily working lives. I hope that the Design Museum and the Tate will do more of these events.
Thanks to Rose Dahlsen at The Tate for inviting me to come along.
Posted by Justin Hobson 21.09.2011

Thick cards for a bright printer!

Opal Print have just produced their new business cards and chosen Colorset (over the more obvious competitor product!). The production included triplexing 3 lots of 270gsm Colorset Lime Green, Dark Grey and White, making 810gsm (plus glue!). The cards are printed two colour offset litho, and hot foiled on the reverse in a clear foil and a metallic silver. It's great to see a printer using methods at their disposal for their own uses and this is certainly a business card which is a brilliant first impression.

Chris Pollard has recently joined Bath based Opal Print and has started an excellent blog, have a look:
http://creativeprinting.wordpress.com/
...and a little reminder that Colorset is made from 100% Recycled post industrial waste fibres.

http://www.opalprint.co.uk/
Posted by Justin Hobson 21.09.2011

Tuesday 20 September 2011

What are you doing this Friday? ...go for a walk!

During the London Design Festival, GraphicBirdWatching is hosting an exclusive graphic design walk through East London’s graphic design studios, celebrating the work and practices of London’s female designers and I'm pleased, in our small way, to be one of the sponors.

This Friday, 23rd September, 15 studios of acclaimed designers working in the fields of typography, print-making, illustration, photography and film-making are opening their doors, allowing a unique insight into their working environments and practices. The ‘base camp’ will host special installations, exhibitions and workshops and will also be the starting and finishing point for the walk.

Visitors can buy tickets in form of a map for £5 at the ‘base camp’ on the day of the event. This detailed map allows visitors access to all the open studios as well as visiting the stalls at the ‘base camp’. In the evening all contributors and visitors are invited to celebrate with music and drinks at the base camp venue, giving everyone a chance to meet and share their experience of the day.

Base camp's location and address:
[SPACE] Gallery
19 Warburton Road
London E8 3RT

More details are available on:
http://www.graphicdesignwalk.com/#1765696/Graphic-Design-Walk
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 20.09.2011

Monday 19 September 2011

Critical Tensions

You may remember my post back in August (12.08.2011) about the forthcoming St Bride's Conference but now there's a shiny new poster and  more speakers have been added including:
Tom Farrand, Tom Rowley and Dan Burgess from Good For Nothing, Amelia Gregory, Matt Jones & Matthew Webb and Jack Schulze from BERG.

...this is on top of the original line-up of speakers including Phil Baines, Jonathan Barnbrook, Zoë Bather, Alan Kitching, Gerry Leonidas, Vaughan Oliver, Paul Rennie, Lucienne Roberts, Jack Schulze, Steve Watson, Rebecca Wright and Derek Yates.
Becky Chilcott and John Walters are co-curating the conference, which is being held on the 10th and 11th November 2011 at the St Brides Institute in London.

The conference is reasonably priced, and if you are an Eye subcriber, you get a discount too. Sign up now!  http://stbride.org/events?show=criticaltensions

PS - You may also notice from the logo on the above poster that it's being sponsored by the other well known, Hull based, paper merchant ...who am I to deny them the oxygen of my publicity!
www.stbride.org
Posted by Justin Hobson 19.09.2011

Addendum - 15.11.2011: The above poster was designed by Roger Swindale and Katy Mawhood, students at the University of Reading using Infidel by Jonathan Barnbrook / www.virusfonts.com
Apologies for missing this off the original post

Friday 16 September 2011

The Way We Live Now - Terence Conran


Terence Conran/1950's
Photo: Ray Williams
Terence Conran’s vision, energy and achievements have shaped the look of our world and influenced how we lead our lives. His drive to make good design part of our everyday life has arguably had more impact on popular culture than that of any other designer of his generation. As his 80th birthday approaches, the Design Museum in association with Tate Modern is hosting a talk to celebrate his achievements.

Chaired by Design Museum Director Deyan Sudjic, this evening of presentations and discussion draws together leading figures from the various worlds that Terence Conran’s parallel careers have influenced and informed. Fiona MacCarthy, Christopher Frayling and Stephen Bayley will each discuss an aspect of Conran’s way of seeing the world.

It's also worth mentioning that there is a Terence Conran exhibition at the Design Museum opening in November.

This event is on Tuesday 20 September, 6.30 - 8pm at TATE MODERN, Starr Auditorium, so hurry up!
See you there...
For more details, follow the links:
The Way We Live Now: An evening celebrating Terence Conran is on Tuesday 20 September 2011, 18.30–20.00
The Way We Live Now at the Design Museum is open 16 Nov 2011 – 4 March 2012
Posted by Justin Hobson 16.09.2011

Thursday 15 September 2011

Soundwave Festival Programme 2011

I'm sure that many of those reading this will be familiar with the Soundwave Festival held in Croatia (I wasn't, I guess I'm just not groovy enough!) Now in it's third year, the festival is bigger and better than ever. The line up included Bonobo, Roots Manuva, Little Dragon, Zero 7 with DJ's Mr Thing and Jenna G. Another feature of this festival is the hosted boat parties - a truly unique facet of this event.

...and this post is about the programme ( -on our paper of course!). It's a very comprehensive piece of literature which has been designed to convey the look and feel of the festival.
Above is cover showing Gloss UV varnish which is a subtle but effective use of the Soundwave mark and which works really well on Omnia.
The programme is an A5 portrait format, saddle stitched. It has a 4pp cover on Omnia 200gsm and a 64pp text on Redeem 100% Recycled 100gsm.
The programme is produced by Beatnik. Editors are Sven Carlsson and Ali Raymond. Creative Directors are Rachel Crowther and Ali Raymond. Design and production is by Ali Raymond.
Print was Handled by Rob Squires at Pureprint. As you can see from the final spread, they have worked hard (and succeeded) on the readover which is printed on two very different materials.

...and with the wonder of modern technology, you can see the programme page by page:
http://vimeo.com/30493809
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StkKN9T25JY

www.beatnikonline.net
www.soundwavecroatia.com
www.pureprint.com
Posted by Justin Hobson 15.09.2011

Wednesday 14 September 2011

London Design Festival 2011

Just a reminder that next week is the London Design Festival: 17th -25th September 2011.

We are supporting one of the events organised by Graphic Birdwatching: http://www.graphicdesignwalk.com/#1765696/Graphic-Design-Walk

Have a look at all the forthcoming events:
http://www.londondesignfestival.com/
Posted by Justin Hobson 14.09.2011

Tuesday 13 September 2011

CN Originals

This is an interesting job which is effectively a look book for Cartoon Network’s Originals, which highlights how brands can licence and apply the crazy original characters to create retro merchandise with attitude. So the items displayed are not available, it's setting the look and feel of possibilities.
The book is 280x195mm, portrait. Binding is "singer sewn" with yellow thread. 4pp cover on our Neptune Unique FSC 250gsm and 28pp text on Neptune Unique FSC 120gsm

The designs incorporate Cartoon Network characters - Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo and friends and the characters are used on everything from clothing to mugs, pictures, cereal bowls etc.

The book is encased in a bespoke yellow envelope with a lovely "disc and string" closure - lovely! - see pic below. The piece was commissioned to be used at the International Licensing Expo in Las Vegas.
For those that aren't familiar with the term "disc and string" - here, goes!
Basically, it's a fairly self explanitory term. A pair of small discs of board - in this case the same material that the envelope is made from (so it's colour coordinated) is cut out and riveted onto the envelope. A piece of thin string (in this case black) is then riveted/glued under one of the discs. The string is then wound in a figure of eight pattern around the discs. It's a lovely idea and solves the problem of permanently sealing with glue, an envelope which may need to be re-opened several times.
Design and Art Direction is by CRUSH based in Brighton. Print production is by Print-Source, who it's worth pointing out, made a superb job of the "disc and string" envelopes
Posted by Justin Hobson 13.09.2011

Thursday 8 September 2011

Flockage with real Swarovski Crystals

Here's a fantastic luxury greetings card range called TU&Co produced using our Flockage Colours. The cards are beautifully foiled and have Swarovski crystals stuck onto the cards by hand.
Not only is this a truly lovely range but the designer responsible, Phan Tu has been nominated (and is a finalist) for "The most promising Young Designer or Artist at the Henries Awards (The Henries are the Awards for the greeting card industry)
www.thehenriesawards.co.uk

 
The cards are produced by Abstract Greetings and are made in the UK. They are hot foil blocked on our Flockage Colours -Anthracite, Black and Bright Red in 400gsm and Flockage Litho White 300gsm.  They are really lovely and good luck to Phan at the awards on 11th October.


Posted by Justin Hobson 08.09.2011

Wednesday 7 September 2011

A sad end for FS Moore





This is the report that appeared in Printweek, yesterday, about the demise of London printer FS Moore, which I reproduce below...

FS Moore owed almost £2m when administrators appointed
By Adam Hooker Tuesday, 06 September 2011

East London printer FS Moore went into administration owing almost £2m to creditors, according to the administrator's report.

The Bank of Ireland was the largest creditor, owed £517,000, but a number of paper companies, print finishers and trade printers were also included.

One paper company was hit for £137,000, while another two were each owed just under £50,000. One finisher included in the creditors' list was hit for as much as £70,000, although most were owed £10,000 to £20,000.

The company also left £250,000 owed to HMRC, around £50,000 of which was for VAT. Redundancy claims accounted for £182,000. Insolvency practitioner BDO was appointed as administrator on 28 July, before selling the business and assets to DG3 Europe in a pre-pack deal the same day.

The report reveals that the business was bought for £140,000, comprising £135,000 for plant and machinery and £5,000 for stock. DG3 also agreed to pay 1% of annual turnover from FS Moore up to £1m and 2% over £1m annually for a period that has yet to be agreed.

According to the report, FS Moore saw turnover drop by around £800,000 in the two years leading up to its administration, from £4.2m in 2008 to £3.4m in 2010.

Initially the directors planned to sell the company in November 2010, however the deal fell through when HMRC refused to defer the repayment of its debt.

It's a real shame when companies which have a good reputation, such as Moores (who's work has appeared before on this blog) hit the buffers. However, it is indicative of the current state of the print and paper market.

You can read the article in full on the following link:
http://www.printweek.com/news/1089465/FS-Moore-owed-almost-2m-when-administrators-appointed/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH
Posted by Justin Hobson 07.09.2011