Dorchester 2021 Calendar

Each year, Dorchester Collection produces a desk calendar for use within its hotels and for distribution to customers. It’s a project that Gavin Martin has been involved in for the last 10 years, advising the client on suitable print substrates, and printing and finishing the calendar at its premises in South London. The 2021 Dorchester Collection calendar is a collaboration with international artist Daniel Egnéus. Agnes Kvaale, Design Lead at Dorchester Collection, believes art, like their hotels, has the power to take us to new places and gain fresh perspectives: “It is with this philosophy in mind that we collaborated with Daniel to vividly capture the unique and unmistakable spirit of our extraordinary hotels for this year’s calendar”. Daniel has created an individual style of art known as ‘Quotidiano-Straordinario’, a colourful expression of life as he sees it. 
It was important that the artist’s watercolours were reproduced as faithfully as possible to the original paintings, while also ensuring the calendar had a soft, tactile feel; the choice of print substrate, therefore, was crucial to the success of the project. This can often present printers with a dilemma because although uncoated papers have the right feel, they can give a muted result. However, Gary Bird, Managing Director of Gavin Martin Colournet and a true print and paper enthusiast, was confident that he had found his client the right paper.

For the leaves of the calendar, Gary recommended Rives Sensation Matt Tactile Bright White from Antalis’ ArjoWiggins creative papers range, which has the feel of an uncoated paper but with a light coating that enables faithful image reproduction. “A paper like that is a rare commodity,” says Gary, “it prints fine art beautifully”. For the cover and stand of the calendar, Eska Black in a depth of 1500 micron was selected. “It’s a lovely, rich, solid black. Because it has a black core, there is no need to wrap it, making it a very cost-effective product. It’s also very flat and robust, which is very important for something that will be sitting on a desk for a year”, explains Gary.

The client was delighted with the finished piece. A total of 25,000 calendars were produced for distribution worldwide. Each illustration in the calendar depicts significant details of the branding of each hotel:

 - The Dorchester – London, UK – afternoon tea

 - Coworth Park – Ascot, UK – nature

 - 45 Park Lane – London, UK – art

 - Le Meurice – Paris, France – Salvador Dali/art

 - Hotel Plaza Athenee – Paris, France – fashion and red flowers that adorn the building

 - Hotel Principe di Savoia – Milan, Italy – fashion and theatre based on the interior

 designs and the hotel’s connection to La Scala

 - Hotel Eden – Rome, Italy – the view of Rome from the top terrace of the hotel

 - The Beverly Hills Hotel – Beverley Hills, USA – the hotel’s famous sign and 1950s

 Hollywood glamour

 - Hotel Bel-Air – Los Angeles, USA – creativity and the hotel’s gardens

Print: The leaves were printed 4-colour process, 1 pantone colour and soft matt varnish on Rives Sensation Matt Tactile Bright White, 200gsm, on a Heidelberg CX 102 5 colour press with coating unit. The stand and cover were foil blocked in Kurz Luxor Gold 457 on Eska Board Deep Black, 1500 micron, on a Heidelberg SBD Cylinder.

Binding: Wire-O-Bound in black

Tip: Gary advises: “When reproducing fine art it’s important to find a paper that will produce a result the artist is happy with. It’s also important to make sure that the board used for the structure of the calendar won’t bow and will remain upright for 12 months.”

The patented surface treatment of Rives Sensation papers and boards produces outstanding results for gloss or ultra-matt printing, on lightly textured surfaces. Rives Sensation is part of the Antalis Creative Papers range, all of which is now carbon balanced by Antalis, in partnership with World Land Trust.

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