Arjowiggins x FIAC

Bookmark project

This project is unique in many ways. Firstly, the function of a bookmark helps highlight tactile sensations of paper, celebrate simple joy of something analog in a world obsessed with digital. Secondly, the diverse geographical context makes it truly special — the bookmark is designed in Russia and printed in UK for a French company. Also, the featured material is remarkable on it’s own: raw, uncoated stock in several weights with vibrant colours, produced from recycled potato skin, combined with almost stone-like surface texture, producing a very extraordinary look and feel experience.

We were hired by Arjowiggins Creative Papers to produce a bookmark to be included with the FIAC catalogue. Every year Arjowiggins collaborates with design studios to come up with a creative bookmark that highlights the qualities of Arjowiggins papers.

We build our idea around mining and fossil extraction as they are in a way similar to creative practice. These activities involve processing a lot of raw material before finding what one is looking for. Curious Matter paper surface resembles untreated stone texture and our design is a metaphor for turning ore into something valuable.

Bearing in mind, that Curious Matter is all about sensation and is widely used in luxury print, we brought the idea of discovering beauty in something ordinary into the project via contrasting print finishing. We treated the bookmark as a stone cut. To show the sensation of the stock the front is left almost untouched with just the logo and text embossed, communicating untreated mineral. The reverse is hot-foiled to achieve the look and feel of a precious stone. The resulting design looks eye-catching and luxurious. It is not just beautiful but also functional, as it successfully shows how foil finishing works with the paper and the effects that can be achieved through the use of Curious Matter.

Production was provided by the most incredible Generation Press.

Photography by Lena Tsibizova