KRAUTKOPF & FEUERRING ...

.... when passion unites, a book is born that tells stories of seasons, recipes & flavors.

Idea
Since 2022, a Luna 50 Feuerring has been standing in the garden of Susann Probst and Yannic Schon. Krautkopf has long admired the lifestyle, philosophy, and approach of Andreas and Beate, which is how the idea came about to tell a garden story with and around the Feuerring in pictures, while also sharing inspiring recipes. This is how the work KRAUTKOPF | FEUERRING came about – a seasonal journey through a wonderful garden, with creative people, fresh home-grown vegetables, herbs, seeds, and much more, and with delicious food from the Feuerring.

Paper selection & challenge
High-quality images require the best substrate for the best color output; because we wanted a fine, matte image effect, we chose an uncoated paper with a high white content for KRAUTKOPF | FEUERRING. The paper behaves similarly to blotting paper – ink is absorbed, it is extremely difficult to print on, but rewards you with a unique feel and look.

Georg Sidler, photographer & lithographer
The choice of uncoated paper requires the utmost care in image processing—and therefore a first-class lithographer. We got to know and appreciate Georg Sidler through Büro Nord when we created the FEUER & RING recipe book set. At the time, we were unaware of the impact of uncoated paper, which we liked best in terms of feel and therefore immediately purchased by the pallet load. Georg's skill and dedication actually “saved” the start of printing! Together with Andreas, Georg discussed and coordinated every single photo.
 
Odermatt AG, Druckerei
“We may not have had anything to do with the invention of letterpress printing, but we certainly had a lot to do with its further development!” Druckerei Odermatt AG has done pioneering work in the development of “computer to plate” and the use of FM screening. 
For the Odermatt team, producing books is comparable to building structures, as something is created that lasts and survives our generation. Printing is a technical, rational process, but the end result is emotional; feelings are evoked through touch, smell, color, design, and text. The Odermatt customer lounge has around 1,000 reference books and a sofa bed—both of which are often used by customers.

Book cover & choice of materials
We opted for strong bookbinding cardboard for the book cover, as we didn't want the simple brilliance of the content to be overshadowed by an overpowering cover. The exterior should reinforce the interior and support it in its artistic nature. 
Cardboard is not suitable for conventional offset printing with rollers, but that wasn't the only reason we used screen printing! We had already had the pleasure of working with Lorenz Boegli, an artist in his field, on the book GEMÜSE. 
Andreas noticed the playful motif on the cover by chance in the studio: the shadow of a bouquet of flowers was projected onto the empty sample cardboard cover by the studio lamp – we were immediately hooked, as were Susann and Yannic, and so the shadow was photographed.

Front and back cover
KRAUTKOPF | FEUERRING begins and ends elegantly in a warm gold tone. This color (often used by Feuerring) comes from the Pantone color chart, which makes offset printing impossible. However, we opted for screen printing by Lorenz Boegli for the front and back covers in order to achieve a deeper and more expressive result.

Screen printing
Screen printing is one of the oldest printing processes. It involves applying ink to the material to be printed using a rubber squeegee through a fine-mesh screen. Areas that are not to receive ink are covered with a stencil. Compared to other types of printing, screen printing allows for much greater differentiation: the impasto (paste-like, mushy) application of ink creates a plastic effect. The use of large amounts of ink creates shiny reflections and a special depth.

Lorenz Boegli Screen Printing Studio
Beate and Andreas met Lorenz Boegli at a paper show in Zurich. He is considered a master of his craft, a pioneer and innovator in screen printing. Lorenz explores the limits of what is possible in his field, which always fascinates us at Feuerring, because further development is only possible through curiosity and deep interest. 

Binding type
The open thread binding offers results that we particularly appreciate: on the one hand, the book can be opened flat, which makes it easier to handle and makes photos that span the center clearly visible (we at Feuerring like to “play” with special arrangements of the wonderful photos when designing the book pages, so that they can be viewed in their entirety). Secondly, the different colors of the book's content throughout the seasons are clearly reflected on the outside. A conscious design decision to use the same binding as in the book GEMÜSE., but with a completely different aesthetic due to the different content. 

Buchbinderei Bubu AG
The family business in Mönchaltdorf combines industrial operation with traditional craftsmanship and often accompanies book projects from the concept phase onwards. Urban Küng (customer adviser) has already helped us achieve the perfect binding for our other books, FEUER & RING and GEMÜSE., thanks to the bubu idea package and his extensive knowledge. Partly handmade—for example, laminating and gluing the book covers—the perfection of the work creates a small masterpiece with every book.

Büro Nord GmbH
Büro Nord is a visual communications agency and has been a close partner of Feuerring since the company was founded. Back in 2008, in the early years, Philip Bernhard created the first advertisement for Feuerring, and in addition to numerous other graphic design projects, the books FEUER & RING and GEMÜSE. also passed through Büro Nord's “hands.”
Food photography, recipes, and layout design for KRAUTKOPF | FEUERRING were created by Susann and Yannic, with final editing by Roland Bürge, Andreas, and Beate.