The Terrence Higgins Trust ‘Friends Gala Dinner’ Luxury Invitations
We recently printed a luxury invitation and event set for the Terrence Higgins Trust’s ‘Friends Gala Dinner’ which is one of the charities that we support. This is our second year working with THT and it’s great to be of assistance for such a worth while cause.
Stephen Fry hosts the glamorous affair and a great deal of money is raised on each occasion. It is important that the invitations are equally as luxurious as the event and this year we worked hard to ensure the prints were of the highest possible quality.
The dinner was held at St Marylebone Parish Church, London and the guests had a great sensory experience from the surrounding mix of sacred architecture and decadent modern décor. This was to be the inspiration for the design of the invitation, with a colourful stained glass window on the front and on the reverse a solid bright blue with modern font for the event details.
The key feature of the invitation was the stained glass window. The supplied design was fantastic but we thought there was a great opportunity here to bring it to life, to make the image look and feel like a real church window. We decided that the best way to do this would be by printing the colours as bold as possible and by applying a spot UV to create this reflective sheen. Another way we thought to enhance it was by embossing the small individual sections of the mirror panels, creating a 3-dimensional tactile quality, to provide this final effect of sun passing through glass.
We also had to think about the weight of the luxury invitation which we wanted to be very thick and sturdy. We printed the colours on the front and back in full colour lithograph onto a white card, meaning the edges of the invitation would also be white. We could have avoided this by adding gilding (a process where by we apply a colour or metallic foil to the edges), but we thought this would be a good opportunity to create a multiple colour effect from duplexing the front and back sheets either side of a bright red card, creating a sense of cohesion between the colours running through the invite and also forming the all important thickness.
The end result was really striking with a fantastic blend of original design, carefully chosen printing processes and well thought out card use. We also printed the admittance and thankyou cards (among other work for the event) which carried the original design of the stained glass window. The changes were that the additions were thinner, with the admittance card having a bright pink background and the thank you card a laser cut window with blue background.
The complete collection made for a great set of prints with a strong focus and theme, each having that something special to link them whilst at the same time providing differentiation between the other items. The event was a hit too with the help of the always impeccable Stephen Fry and a wonderful performance from Elaine Page. There was also a fantastic turn out of celebrities, important figures and inspirational individuals connected to the charity who collectively raised around a staggering £500k.
The Terrence Higgins Trust has a huge impact on the lives of those living with HIV and for the charity to continue working as effortlessly as they have been they need as much support from the public as possible. We hope to continue working and contributing to the Trust in the future and if you’re interested in making some form of donation too then follow this link: http://www.tht.org.uk/get-involved/Donate.
Wednesday, 2nd July, 2014
