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Meticulous Effort Behind The Scenes

Preparation in Advance

Shinohara Shiko Ltd. often gets proposal-based work, but we also work behind the scenes in some projects.
This beautiful “NOREN” book has red foil stamp on a white base.

When the Art Director approached us with this project, the design, budget, and delivery date was pretty much set in stone. As it is a “Noren (Japanese door way curtain)” catalog, they wanted it to be wrapped halfway with cheesecloth, to be a side-stitch bind, and with foil stamping. It is a simple product, but the details required preparations in advance from a bookbinding perspective. Wrapping half of the book with cheesecloth may cause it to warp, so we tested it in-house to check the warping and texture of the product. Furthermore, we also tested to see how the red foil stamp would look on the white cheesecloth. We tested all these in advance in-house while being careful not to alter the design.

Creativity in the Hidden Parts

This project was the first art direction project for the designer, Mei Otsubo. Because of that, Ohara, who was in charge on our end, focused on fulfilling Ms. Otsubo’s requests and making the process as smooth and comfortable as possible. Thanks to their impeccable chemistry, Ms. Otsubo’s draft design data was very easy to understand, making every process fit perfectly with one another. 

Ohara says this project, which turned a simple side-stitch book with cheesecloth wrapped around it into a book that is worth keeping, reinforced his conviction of “The Power of Design”.

Additionally, due to Ohara’s pure liking of Ms. Otsubo’s creativity and perspective, he dropped this humble quote, “There’s no need for me in this book, I just wanted to play the supporting role.”
Creativity is not just the art of creating something people can see, but understanding the limitations and the ability to create a streamlined process to deliver a project smoothly was made possible due to our deep knowledge of bookbinding. We believe that the ability to work behind the scenes to make our clients happy is also a form of creativity.