Creative print

Our fine art carbon neutral calendar, illustrated by Erin Forsyth

Every year we produce a calendar to exhibit some of our more specialised printing skills and showcase the talents of a remarkable New Zealand creative. For our 2019/20 effort, Erin Forsyth has provided a series of exquisite illustrations featuring NZ native species.

The works printed in our calendar come from Erin’s ‘A Few’ exhibition, which was held last year. A variety of flora and fauna are represented in this collection with special attention given to purerehua/butterflies (lepidoptera), manu/birds (avifauna), pekapeka/bats (chiroptera) and rakau/trees.

Erin’s not only famous for her nature illustrations. She also produces contemporary works, including sculptures, which reference traditional and contemporary symbolism, archetypes and anecdotes. Her comically dark illustrations have graced walls, cafes, clothing and album covers.

In recent months we’ve helped Erin produce two journals – Tauhou Volume 1 and Rakau, Trees A-Z. The words featured in our calendar are from her Tauhou series. Here’s Erin’s explanation of her Tauhou concept:

“Tauhou is a publishing concept that combines refreshed information and contemporary natural history illustrations of plants, animals and ecosystems - the biological diversity - of Aotearoa, New Zealand.

The motivation for works in this series is to ease accessibility to information regarding the flora, fauna and varied environments of this special place, with an aim toward increasing awareness of their cultural and scientific significance, as well as the threats and challenges they face, to increase active engagement with their protection for prosperity.

Illustrations in the Tauhou series are hand-drawn studies in gouache, graphite or ink paired with basic and factual descriptions.”

CarboNZero^(CertTM) printing

This new calendar has been produced using our carbon neutral printing service, which means that carbon inputs associated with paper, inks, waste, finishing, transport and the electricity used by the printing technology have been neutralised through New Zealand carbon offset programmes.

Visit Erin Forsyth’s website.

See an online catalogue of ‘A Few’

Find out more about sustainable printing with Soar.

Beautiful ground-level Britomart artwork printed by Soar

If you’re strolling around Auckland’s CBD this January, direct your feet to the Britomart precinct to see the artwork of Charlotte Graham. Installed on the ground, it was printed by Soar.

The artwork, known as Te Waiora, consists of 24 hand-painted water droplets, many of them inscribed with Maori motifs. The droplets have been materialised as 1200 self-adhesive decals, which you can see applied to walkways throughout Britomart. Te Waiora will remain in place until the end of January 2019.

Charlotte created the artwork to emphasise Christmas as a time of connectedness between whanau and friends; people and the land; past, the present and future. She chose water as a motif because of the way it refers to the maritime histories of Maori, Pakeha and Pacific peoples, as well as Aotearoa’s more recent immigrants. In the Maori language, wai means ‘water’ and ora means ‘life’.

The droplets were printed with UV-resistant latex inks on two specialist anti-slip self-adhesive products, to allow for different surfaces, using our new HP Latex R2000 digital press. This same press is often used to print vinyl car wraps, bespoke adhesive wall murals, point of sale materials and signage. It can print both on roll and rigid substrates up to 50mm thick and boasts the smoothest white ink laydown available in New Zealand today.

To find out more about reproducing artwork onto self-adhesive or other materials, email Brian Landry at brianl@soarprint.co.nz

NZ art book directory by Soar Arts – it’s a first!

'Off The Press: The Art Book Directory’ is a Soar Arts initiative that shines a light on New Zealand art publications.

Until now it’s been difficult to find out about the latest books, monographs and catalogues from New Zealand’s art world. Our Off The Press directory changes all that.

“Most of the arts publications in New Zealand are printed in very short runs, which makes it a challenge for people to find the publications created by our arts community”, says Stuart. “With only a few specialist booksellers remaining in this country and little in the way of an online presence, there’s a real need for a guide like Off The Press to catalogue these works.”

The directory is edited by Katie Kerr, a graphic designer with a passion for art books.

“Arts publications tend to be carefully-crafted objects, and often experimental in both editorial and design”, says Katie. “Without a better platform for national exposure, there is a real possibility of this alternative realm of publishing disappearing in New Zealand. Through Off The Press, we hope to champion both the publishers and the books, showcasing a diverse body of thought relating to art, design, theory and practice – while also exhibiting the creative powers of New Zealand's specialist bookmakers.”

Copies of the first edition of Off The Press have been distributed to selected galleries and participating publishers and artists. The directory is also available as a digital book for mobile offthepress.partica.co.nz.

Next edition of Off The Press coming soon

Soar Arts is working on the next edition of Off The Press, which will be published in May 2019. If you have an arts publication that would benefit from greater exposure, email us before 29 March 2019 offthepress@soarprint.co.nz. Your publication can be as a free listing or as a feature article.

Free listings

Directory free listings will include your book cover with a description up to a maximum of 75 words for each book, in a 1/4 page gallery layout style.

Feature article

For a more impactful promotion of your book, a feature listing offers a double page spread in print and online, with extra photography and extended content over two pages.

You can submit your latest New Zealand visual art publication or catalogue online.

Red foiled art catalogue wins gold award for Soar Arts

‘Welcome to my world: The Art of Sam Taare’ was produced for graphic artist Martin Page, in conjunction with Gus Fisher Gallery. It was printed with Soar’s iGen digital press on Supreme Whiteback single-sided art board. The cover featured red metallic foiling. This catalogue won Gold at this year’s Pride in Print awards.

If you’re involved in an arts-related business or organisation, you’ll know that organising print and digital promotional material is a big task that eats time as well as money. But now there’s an easier way.

Soar Arts is transforming print wrangling in the arts sector. It’s an advisory, design and print management service for galleries, arts events, theatres, performance groups and every other kind of enterprise operating in the arts sphere.

Specialised printing expertise for the creative sector

Stuart Shepherd is the main man behind the service. Before starting up Soar Arts, which is a subsidiary of Soar Print, he was a book publisher and distributor of arts publications in New Zealand and overseas. His expertise with arts-related promotions and publications is proving invaluable to Soar Arts’ clients.

Recently Stuart has been working with two major art events – the New Zealand Outsider Art Fair and Open Studios Waitakere. Both events rely on gaining awareness within the arts-loving public, as well as providing event-goers with instant information about what to see and where.

Renee Tanner of Open Studios Waitakere says that Soar Arts has made a real difference to this year’s event.

“Stuart understood what I was hoping to achieve with the event and was able to apply his knowledge of print to help us with key decisions. I didn’t have to learn all about print promotion and production, because he was there to advise me. One of our publicity pieces is a pocket-sized brochure, and it’s working really well. I’m seeing it everywhere and our brand looks great. Now that I’ve discovered Soar Arts, I wouldn’t go elsewhere for print services.”

Making art look good in print

For the New Zealand Outsider Art Fair marketing collateral, which included a flipbook that works on mobile phones, Stuart worked closely with Erwin van Asbeck, managing director of Toi Ora Live Art Trust.

“Working with Soar Arts has certainly made the task of promoting our art fair easier and less stressful. With a 10-day programme across 35 venues, getting the promotional material together was a major task. Working with Stuart helped us to get it right across a whole range of material – catalogue, posters, postcards and tee shirts. A real benefit was being able to give our patrons a digital version of the catalogue, which they can read easily on their phone.”

As an adjunct to promotional material for the art fair, Soar Arts printed a catalogue featuring the work of the late Sam Taare, an East Coast artist. Designed by acclaimed graphic artist Martin Page and printed on Soar’s iGen digital press, this publication is titled ‘Welcome to my world: the art of Sam Taare’. Taare’s family travelled from East Cape to perform and sing at the opening of the art fair.

Every kind of printing for arts-related endeavours

The Soar Arts service covers newsletters and mailers, publishing services (including production of mobile-friendly flipbooks), posters, postcards and brochures. And because Soar Arts is linked to Soar Print, there’s easy access to graphic design services, warehouse storage, logistics and mail-house services. Pricing is pleasingly sharp, so that promotional budgets go further.

For more information about Soar Arts, email Stuart Shepherd stuarts@soarprint.co.nz

Find out more about Soar Arts, a print service for the creative sector.

DINZ is for every kind of designer. Have you joined?

Soar recently became a Silver Sponsor of the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ). We did this because printing and design are inextricably linked. By helping DINZ, we’re supporting professions that respect the art and science of printing.

The Designers Institute of New Zealand represents industrial design, graphic design, interactive design, spatial design, product design, design in business, service design and design education. The overall aim of the organisation is to ensure professional designers are valued and rewarded for the contribution they make to the economic, cultural and social growth of New Zealand.

Best Design Awards is accepting entries now

Every year DINZ runs the Best Design Awards, an annual showcase of excellence in graphic, spatial, product and interactive design. Entries for the next batch of awards are open now. Find out about entering the Best awards.

Hear from the best of the best

DINZ also runs a great programme of events, all aimed at helping good designers to be even better. Here’s what’s coming up for April and May:

Best of the Best Designers Speak™ (1): Auckland Art Gallery, 6 April, 6pm to 8.30pm. Features Klim Type Foundry, Osborne Shiwan, Alt Group & Auckland Council
Best of the Best Designers Speak™ (2): Auckland Art Gallery, 13 April, 6pm to 8.30pm. Features Syrp, Method, Bobux International, Pacific Helmets
Best of the Best Designers Speak™ (3): Auckland Art Gallery, 4 May, 6pm to 8.30pm. Features Rufus Knight Associates & Lonely, Jose Gutierrez, Wingate + Farquhar, Stevens Lawson Architects

Visit the DINZ events calendar for prices and additional detail.

Kiwi connection with Financial Times redesign

At Soar we’re immediately drawn to anything about type and print, so we enjoyed reading a case study about the Financial Times redesign on the DINZ website. There’s a New Zealand Connection with this story - Kris Sowersby of Klim Type Foundry created a bespoke typeface family for the paper. Go to the Financial Times case study.

If you’re interested in joining DINZ, visit the ‘members’ page on the DINZ website.

Five ways to make your business card work harder

Your smallest piece of marketing collateral – your business card - is potentially a powerful pitching tool. It can reflect your position in the market, through your choice of stock. It can communicate a benefit or key information on the reverse. And it can separate you from competitors, with a creative embellishment or the ability to transform into something.

But too often business people are equipped with cards that don’t pull their weight. They are forgettable, ordinary and poorly finished - traits you’d rather not be associated with.

As printers, we’re in the ideal position to tell you what’s trending in business cards. Hundreds of business card printing jobs pass through our presses every year. We also keep an eye on the web for ideas that make us sit up and take notice.

Here are some business card concepts that we like a lot:

Creative use of die cuts. There are some hilarious examples here – one for a cosmetic surgeon, another for a yoga teacher and the most amazing cheese grater card concept.
3D cut outs. We love the first idea on this site. The photograph pushes out to make the card pop up.
Transparent stock. We can print on almost anything at Soar, so a transparent idea like this is certainly on the cards. The next idea on this site is cool too - a business card that is also a bike tool. Soar has flat-bed presses that can print on almost any kind of substrate.
Embossing. Our finishing machines can create amazing embossed cards like this one. There’s something profoundly premium about an embossed or debossed card.
Flat-pack model card. We love this card for Bentply, a furniture store in London. It folds out to become a chair. Incredible!

Get your graphic designer to talk to us about what’s possible with business cards. Contact our creative printing expert Natalie on natalieh@soarprint.co.nz

Top tips for desk pads, calendars and wall planners

Everyone loves starting the new year with a spotless desk pad, a pristine wall planner and a calendar that enthusiastically announces JANUARY!

These items are all useful for your customers, as well as your own people. They can express your brand, key messages, goals and current advertising imagery. Handy tools, like conversion tables, can also be incorporated into the artwork.

Now’s the time to brief your creative agency on 2016 desk kit, then let us bring it to life with our printing presses. If you don’t have a creative agency, we can offer the services of Soar Studio – our in-house graphic design team.

Tips for an exceptional desk kit:

Shrink your organisation’s carbon footprint by making your 2016 desk pieces carboNZero^CertTM. Our in-house expert can do the necessary carbon measurements, then purchase the carbon credits required. Going carboNZero means you can include an inspiring sustainability message on your print, as well as the all-important carboNZero logo.
Consider a laminated wall planner that lets you use whiteboard marker. As plans change, simply wipe and write again.
Print personalised wall planners for staff and customers. Our new iGen printer makes it possible to change out names, images and text on large-format items.
Make your desk pad really useful. Include ‘to do’ lists, a printed ruler, conversion tables, common misspellings and grammar rules, as well as lots of room for notes. You can also add witty or inspirational quotes, if you’re that way inclined.
Make calendars 100% accurate for New Zealand by going to www.publicholiday.co.nz. You’ll find other NZ special days on www.timeanddate.com
Create an irresistible piece of art in calendar form. If your calendar is a giveaway and you really want it to be used, make sure it’s something special. Check out www.thedesignerwall.com (graphic design blog) for ideas.
Get special rates for bulk orders. Talk to us about volume discounts - the more you print, the better the deal.

To get your 2016 desk kit organised, talk to your Soar account manager or call Peter Lloyd on (09) 302 9105, email peter@soarprint.co.nz