Leonhard Kurz wins special prize and silver in print competitions

The stamping foil manufacturer Kurz has received accolades for its "The Beautiful" poster at this year's Printstars competition, the Innovation Prize of the German Printing Industry, and the Creativity Print Awards. At the Printstars awards ceremony in Stuttgart on October 9th, Kurz's print product was honored with the Innovative Print Finishing award. At the internationally acclaimed Creativity Print Awards, an independent design competition that has been running for 42 years, it received a silver award in the poster category.

Prior to impressing the juries at these two competitions, "The Beautiful" had already been fascinating visitors to the Drupa trade fair back in May 2012. This poster, which was hot stamped live at the Kurz booth, was highly coveted by the trade fair visitors. Hardly anyone left the Kurz booth without securing their very own copy.

The subject of the poster, a luxuriously bejeweled young woman, was specially developed to illustrate just how effective print finishing can be as a method of adornment, and to demonstrate how elegant concealment can emphasize beauty. Certain areas of the jewelry seen in the poster are produced with metallic and holographic stamping foils applied by means of an artistic embossing technique. These stampings, which were carried out using the state-of-the-art die technologies from Hinderer and Muehlich, create a visual and tactile sensation that is only achievable using the hot stamping technique. The manufacturer's aim was to demonstrate how print finishing can be used to enhance print products with great effect, and how the traditional print medium can successfully compete with online media. The success of "The Beautiful" demonstrates the unique appeal of high-quality print products, and our ongoing fascination with them.