During 2007, the Waimakariri District Council was asked to twin with the district of Zonnebeke in Belgium, to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Passchendaele, in 1917.
The Mayor and Deputy Mayor were invited to attend the commemorations where the formal twinning would take place, but the Council was concerned the event may be seen as merely a junket and asked The Primrose Group to come up with some ideas on making this more of a community event.
Lauren McKenzie floated the idea of a book marking the sacrifice of the men of the Waimakariri district that could be gifted to the district of Zonnebeke during the commemorations. The stories would all be sourced from the people of the district.
She recruited the help of the local RSA in promoting the book and gathering the stories and photographs, while researching the Waimakariri involvement and history of the district to provide context.
Lauren had previously taken a liking to a book Account Manager, Andrew Sharpe had been involved in producing for another client, where old family photos had been scanned and reproduced as a modern day photo album. This was the catalyst for the idea to lay up the Waimakariri stories and images laid up in a ‘scrapbook’ style.
The design team further developed the concept using aged look paper to give the look of a scrapbook created in that era. All the information was written, edited and recrafted by Lauren to fit this style. The designer had only a week to complete all the pages prior to printing to ensure the book was ready to fly out with the delegation.
Andrew Sharpe, who managed the printing, took the project to another level, sourcing look-alike canvas and leather, which was used to hand bind the final product.
The Curator of the Memorial Museum Passchendaele 1917 was particularly taken with the book, with now rests with the Zonnebeke Council.
Additional pages, marking the handover, were added to the original on the delegations return and a further 14 copies only, produced.
In awarding The Passchendaele Scrapbook Project a gold medal at the Pride ‘n’ Print Awards Senior finishing judge Chris Woodhead said, “the book was notable both for its content and for its innovative use of digital print technology.
“The material is obviously very sombre and poignant. The replication of aged documents in this book was very tastefully done to reflect that mood. The work reflected a suberb choice of materials, imagery, and design and production skills.
“It was printed by inject, case bound using leather and look-alike material chosen to mimic the canvas carried by WW1 servicemen. The end result is a fantastic reflection of the original documents and memorabilia from nearly a century ago. It is a job I could not fault. “
http://www.prideinprintawards.co.nz/2008-winners.php
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0805/S00428.htm
