A Designer event

Hmm,  cold isn't it.  Biting actually.  It's the morning after the night before as they say ... actually it doesn't apply to me because I'm very 'controlled' on night befores - you have to keep a clear head for morning afters in Production. 

Last night we went to the Designer Classics launch at Paul Smith's Notting Hill shop - I guess that's doing it a major injustice - it's more an emporium and alas, not the sort of place I usually find myself in.  The Designer Classics - in case you don't know (hey, you should) are five amazing 'packages'.  Paul Smith,  Manolo Blahnik, Sam-Taylor-Wood, Fuel and Ron Arad were invited at the beginning of the year to pick their favourite Penguin Classic (in celebration of sixty years of Penguin Classics publishing).  The five designers were allowed to let their creative juices flow freely - something that always sends a shiver down the spine of any Production person. 

In fact they've been a joy to work on.  In Production we care about the things other people may not notice automatically...  the weight of paper, the spread of ink, the deepness of an embossing guide... and these books are production heaven. 

Paul Smith created a beautiful hand stitched, silk-lined jacket for Lady Chatterley's Lover.  Produced by his team in India to exact specifications it fits the purple cloth'd board exactly.  Success.  Paul also produced his own branded ribbon marker; the text within was printed in purple,  the simple endpaper designs printed in the same purple and the head and tail bands are white to match the matt foiling on the front and spine of the purple cloth hidden by the silk jacket. Wonderful stuff. And delivered on time.

Manolo Blahnik's Madame Bovary is a similar hardback title - a sewn 'Royal' size (234x156mm to you print students out there). The jacket is an uncoated stock with a painting by Mr Blahnik running from the front, over the spine and onto the back cover.  To seal the ink but to keep the 'uncoated' feeling we put a matt varnish over the entire jacket. Underneath there's real turquoise cloth, with white matt foiling on the front and spine, yellow head and tail bands, yellow endpapers and a bright yellow ribbon marker. 

For Fuel we really had to stretch our Italian printers... They are used to challenges - luckily.  Fuel's Crime and Punishment is printed entirely on brown Kraft paper.  Most Kraft paper is one sided - that is,  it has a shiny side and a rough side.  We wanted a brown paper that is rough on both sides,  so the printer came up with the plan of using the material that is usually used to package concrete. Hmmm.   We weren't sure what the results would be but it really really works.  The cover is silkscreen printed in red and silver and this printing extends under the book and across the foredge (the side of the book opposite the spine).  This is very difficult to do accurately and it had to be very precise since it ties in with the design on the front cover.  The result is stunning. 

For Sam Taylor Wood's Tender is the Night we took her photographic artwork for the jacket and printed it in a clever duotone - printing 2 colours - to create a rich black and white image. And we printed it on tracing paper - when this jacket is wrapped around the book with its real black cloth'd board it looks very stylish. Black endpapers and black head and tail bands just add to the stylish look.

For Ron Arad's The Idiot the printer and production department had to pull out all the stops.  A smaller-sized book (B format paperback - 198 x 132mm), it is hand bound and specific coloured threads are used in the sewing process.  It is also printed on all sides of the book - a silk screening process that's incredibly complicated and some of this was done by machine and the rest perfected by hand.  The slipcases for the other 4 titles were produced in Italy to a standard size and silkscreened in white - Mr Arad's was produced in Ascot and Taiwan... ahem...  It works incredibly well - as you remove the lid - which contains a fresnel lens - the text is magnified - and when the lid is on the box, from above the book really does appear three dimensional - all 4 sides are visible.  Hey, you have to see it to believe it. 

So that's the production low-down...  and everyone is very happy with the results - thank 'eavens... but as everyone of us knows in Production-land you're only as good as your next book.  And new standards have been set!  Au revoir!

Andrew Henty, Production Manager

Comments

[Jennifer Jeffrey]

Wow. Absolutely gorgeous. I'm quite impressed.

[Raquel Sallaberry]

Lovely. Absolutely lovely! Congratulations Penguin people and the designers.
Raquel