Thanking everybody for coming to the event, Boss Print managing director Fenton Smith said he was delighted with how things had turned out with another successful collaboration alongside designer Studio Sutherl&, following the launch of its box sample selector last year, and Fedrigoni. 

“Boss Print has run a few events in the past 18 months aimed at showcasing the physical virtues of print in the communication chain,” Smith told PrintWeek.

“All of these have been collaborative projects showing what can be done when combining design, paper and print, the concept being to inspire young and old design heads to get excited about print and paper."

The idea for A Tall Story was first forged by Smith’s daughter Tiger-Lily Smith, who wrote a number of drafts of a story about a giraffe that was afraid of heights, intended for a creative writing competition that she then missed the deadline for. However, Fenton Smith showed the final draft to the team at Studio Sutherl&, while keeping the identity of its author secret, and they agreed to provide illustrations for it.

Attending the launch, children’s author and television personality Floella Benjamin spoke, describing the importance of children’s literature as being “tangible, key and exciting”. Benjamin then performed a dramatic reading of A Tall Story and designer Rebecca Sutherland talked attendees through the process of designing the illustrations. 

“The only Christmas presents I buy for children are children’s books,” said Benjamin.

“I have written over 30 children’s books and I want children to have a love affair with a book. Everything we do and everything we say affects our children and none more so than through our storytelling." 

There was also time for Tiger-Lily Smith to thank her father, family and others for their help with the project. 

Printed on Boss’ Speedmaster CD 74, the first wire-stitched books were available at the event for £10, with all proceeds going to Anxiety UK. Paper used was 290gsm Sirio Gialloro for the cover, 80gsm Sirio Caffè for the flysheet and 170gsm Sirio Gialloro for the text. The cover had a textured emboss applied by Spinks Embossers and the giraffe's eye was clear iridescent foil-blocked and embossed.

100 copies will be given to Anxiety UK, along with the proceeds of those sold at the event, with those unsold being used as collaborative marketing aids for Fedrigoni, Sutherland and Boss Print. The remaining 500 copies will become available for commercial purchase at a later date. 

Boss Print has produced a number of design collaboration pieces over the past year, with its Robox handmade box launched last month and the third of its luxury Noted Notebooks, Heidelberg Bound, coming out at the end of last year. A fourth Noted Notebook is set for launch on 28 November. 

“We are fortunate to work with some extremely committed and talented people, who share our passion for this approach, and we have had a lot of fun producing the various projects and holding these events," added Smith. 

Earlier this year, PrintWeek's three time Luxury Packaging Printer of the Year launched a new litho colour process.