Dwelling in the Margins

Every now and then (and actually more regularly these days), we get a job that demands the most intricate pre-press, printing and finishing we can achieve. Katie Kerr’s new book ‘Dwelling in the Margins’ is one of those projects.

Recently completed and destined to win awards, Dwelling in the Margins is a 318 PUR bound jacketed- cover book that captures the essence of art book publishing. Published by Katie Kerr’s GLORIA Books , the book contains stories and essays written by 30 practitioners – artists, poets, photographers, designers and curators – who incorporate publishing in their practice. The articles and images reflect on New Zealand creativity, speculate on the changing landscape of book-making and imagine alternative frameworks for the future of publishing.

The man tasked with shepherding this book through weeks of painstaking production was Stuart Shepherd who said it was a labour of love.

“This highly experimental book required weeks of personal input and obsessive checking of substrates and print process from all angles. I wanted it to be everything Katie desired, and then some. We recognise that this type of job is an opportunity to demonstrate our prowess with the most challenging types of print and finishing processes,” says Stuart.

Stuart brings with him a special focus on the creation of art books and high-end magazines. He has 30+ years’ experience in magazine and book publishing in New Zealand and overseas, as well as a wealth of knowledge in design arts marketing. Stuart pioneered a number of specialist magazine and design book-related business ventures in New Zealand, including Propaganda Arts Distribution and Magazzino.

A range of presses and techniques were used to bring Katie’s vision to life. The book’s pages were printed on the Océ Vario i300 Inkjet print-on-demand press. They are printed on two paper stocks, our unique Book Bulk text stock and Indigo Press Satin, which is printed black to give the reader a distinct textural difference between text and imagery.

For the book jacket, Katie wanted a concept that gives the book a tactile advantage.

“I wanted to create a ductile jacket that wrapped around the book like vinyl. The book is small in size but bold in thought, so the cover needed to be really vibrant to reflect that. Screen-printing allowed us to print a canary yellow ink onto vinyl-like paper. It was an experimental process, but one worthy of a book on art publishing,” says Katie.  

Dwelling in the Margins is PUR-bound with an unprinted black Popset cover. The book jacket was screen-printed using Imprimex cotton textile, with the assistance of our production partners Southan Print. It used PMS yellow and black with UV-cured inks. The book is available from GLORIA Books.

“Every aspect of Dwelling in the Margins is a triumph. The writing is from a variety of angles, voices and experience which is illuminating. The production itself is gorgeous from the zing of the canary yellow cover, the elegant typography and layout, and beautiful photographic spreads.” — Kiran Dass, Kete

Dwelling in the Margins won a gold medal in the Publications category at the 2022 Pride in Print Awards.

Want to know more about art book printing? Email Stuart.shepherd@scg.net.nz