When Reyn Paper Co was asked to create the box for Legion Paper’s #nssclassof70, we were excited to get our hands on paper that was specifically for packaging! I knew that I wanted to have a high contrast look with gold foil, so I started by selecting black papers available in heavy enough stock to make a sturdy box. When I came across the Cocktail Black Russian paper it was love at first sight. I knew it was the one almost immediately. It had this beautiful shimmer that added just the right amount of glamor to the design, without being too gaudy or distracting.The flexibility of printing applications was the next reason I was drawn to this paper, as it allowed me to utilize both foil and metallic offset printing in the design without sacrificing quality in either. I loved using foil in my designs, and I would have loved to make the entire project gold foil, but I knew it wouldn’t be practical for the insert information card because of the amount of information we had to fit into such a small area. So for the insert we utilized offset gold metallic ink to get the glitziness across in a more practical form.
And lastly, when it comes to designing packaging, durability is paramount. I knew this piece would be receiving a lot of wear and tear over the course of the show, people sliding it open and closed again and again as they went around collecting the trading cards. So when I found this paper I took my sample and really tried to rough it up. Folding, rubbing, scuffing--you name it, I tried it. What I discovered is that the Black Russian paper is as resilient as it is beautiful. It can really take some abuse. It showed very little wear after i worked it over, and the shimmer quality of the paper never degraded.
I want people to be able to keep this as a collector's piece for many years to come. It’s a huge responsibility, protecting all the beautiful trading cards designed for Legion Paper, so we wanted to make sure our box could measure up to the task. This was my first time working with Cocktail paper and, needless to say, I can’t wait to work with it again!
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The National Stationery Show, for those of you who are new to the industry, is THE show for all things paper. Every May the stationery community descends upon Manhattan to make the Javits Center its temporary home for 4 days of total stationery bliss. And while most of us will spend months in preparation for just a few days of excitement, I think most stationers would agree that it is definitely worth all the blood, sweat and tears that go into making a show like this possible!
But that's not the entire story...
Barbara Lipe
June 25, 2016
What beautiful job you did. You certainly have the vision and talent to create beautiful paper products. Bravo!