Designed, as always, in partnership with Illustration students at Falmouth University, the 2023 Calendar theme was “Cornish Folklore”.
From giants to pixies, sea monsters to mermaids, it is awash with colour and creativity and guaranteed to bring a smile to your desk, even on a grim, winter Monday morning!
The project began back in October when Beth and Ben from SAPC visited final year Illustration students at Falmouth University to present the calendar requirements.
The project runs as a live brief that they can choose to take on as part of their final year coursework. At this briefing, they learned some background about SAPC. We explained our history, growing from a small, high street photocopy shop to a modern, purpose-built factory.
We also aimed to put across our passion for print and commitment to sustainable practice and reducing our impact on the environment. We talked about the calendar in general, now in production for more than ten years, and this year’s chosen brief of “Cornish Folklore – Myths and Legends.”
Ben Silveston, from SAPC, was the Artwork and Design Manager for the calendar and enjoyed working on the project:
“As always it was a real pleasure to work with the 3rd year Illustration students from Falmouth University. With the brief being focused around Cornish mythology and folklore it was a great opportunity to see how locals as well as Falmouth’s international students interpreted the strange, dark and often fairly unknown tales from Cornwall.
I was really impressed with the variety of media and styles used throughout the project which resulted in a really diverse and interesting body of work for the calendar.”
Natalie Hayes, Head of Third Year Illustration at Falmouth University, supported the 36 students who took part and told us:
“Working on a live project with St Austell Printing Company has given our final year Illustration students a fantastic professional experience and the opportunity for their work to gain national exposure.
The theme ‘Cornish Folklore’ inspired creative and imaginative responses, resulting in a wonderful calendar for 2023.”
The final winners were selected in November, with 14 illustrations featuring on the finished calendar, one for each month, one for the cover and an additional idea used to explain the brief, within the calendar itself.
The students received a small fee for their work and were invited to visit us at St Austell for a behind the scenes tour, to learn more about the printing process and see their calendars being printed on our litho presses.
If you received a calendar, we hope it brightens up your desk in these dark months and provides a few moments of calm and wonder as you disappear into Cornwall’s mythical worlds whilst checking your diary.
