by Erin La Row, editor, PostPress
The team at Gravure Choquet had quite the task – take an already impressive, framed award that its client, RE/MAX Real Estate, had been using for years and make it even better.
First, Gravure Choquet started with a little inspiration. “We showed [the client] the foil and emboss Mandala we created that won the Best of Show in the Gold Leaf Awards two years ago,” said Yoan Robitaille, sales and business development with Gravure Choquet. “They said, ‘WOW!’ and wanted to do something like it. That was a big demand, but it was something that we were able to accomplish.”
Robitaille said the Gravure Choquet team went to work, producing different designs for the framed award certificates that impressed not just the client but the client’s members as well. “Our mission was accomplished,” he said.
The team at Gravure Choquet created a series of stunning foil-embossed awards, one of which also impressed judges in the 30th annual FSEA Gold Leaf Awards. With this particular piece, Gravure Choquet won Gold under the category of “Best Use of Foil/Embossing – Miscellaneous Product” and Best of Show within all categories for Best Use of Foil and/or Embossing.
Robitaille said it was quite a process going from start to finish. The team provided a few designs to the client. “We worked in collaboration with them,” Robitaille said. “The client had only one request – it needed to be a ‘wow’ like the Mandala project.”
First, the outside box that the framed award sits in was created with a 14 pt. stock laminated with a black soft-touch lamination. The laminated stock then was diecut and assembled into the outside box. The outside frame of the prestigious award was an extruded profile that included a brushed gun metal foil finish.
For the certificate itself inside the frame, a 20 pt. white Invercote stock was used that allows for crisp, deep embossing with the black soft-touch lamination. Then a Classic Crest 18 pt. stock was used as a second layer cover that was also laminated with the black soft-touch.
The hard work was just beginning, Robitaille said. More than 35 different versions of the award were manufactured. Within these 35 different versions, there were between eight to 16 passes through the presses, depending on the version. Each framed award was 20 x 14″ in size, creating even more challenges in completing all of the different processes. There were several passes of foil, including flat rainbow foil stamping, silver foil with a textured die and passes of black foil.
“We did a variation of the different categories with a clear holographic foil, a matte silver and an emboss/deboss with brass dies,” Robitaille said. “We then embossed in register the client’s logo with a deep multilevel emboss brass die. We diecut the two layers for perfect registration for the different categories of the certificates. We added a filler integrated behind the certificates to create weight and depth between the two layers. Finally, all the components were assembled in the frame and integrated in the presentation box.” A textured foil stamping die was used for several of the awards to help adhesion and stability since it was working on soft-touch material.
“The different foils and deep multilevel embossing brought these pieces to another dimension,” he added.
A variety of equipment was used during the project, including presses from BOBST, Kluge, Thomson and Sheridan. And while many foil application techniques were used to create the awards, Robitaille said the team didn’t use any new or special technology on the project – only pure craftsmanship and years of experience. The foil stamping engravings were produced in-house by Gravure Choquet and the multi-level embossing dies were produced by Metal Magic. The foils used for the project mainly came from Kurz Transfer Products but also from ITW ShineMark and Univacco.
“The project required a huge amount of collaboration from our entire team,” Robitaille said. Client requests changed over the course of the project, which was challenging. But Robitaille said working as a team and with experienced press operators – combined with the best equipment on the market – enabled Gravure Choquet to meet the client’s expectations.
“The client had big expectations for this project – changing something that was used for over 10 years and having members endorse the change to this new product was not a small affair,” Robitaille said. “But after the first gala, I can say the mission was truly accomplished.”
