20 Years of Phillips & Stubbs

Stunning Coffee Table Book for Leading Estate Agent

A high-end print management project commissioned by leading South coast Estate Agent, sees besley & copp working closely with a celebrated artist and designer.    

‘From beginning to end of what was a very demanding, high specification project requiring forensic attention to detail and creative flair, Besley and Copp exceeded our best expectations in all regards. In particular, we were hugely impressed by Shane and Terry’s quick appreciation of what was required, their calmness under pressure and their absolute commitment to delivering an outstanding result on time, all of which they achieved.’
Martyn Stubbs, Phillips & Stubbs

It’s great when you get to work closely with a client on a bespoke print management project which is a little out of the ordinary for them. Especially when that project involves passion and creativity.

It has therefore been a great pleasure to work with Estate Agents Phillips & Stubbs to create their new Coffee Table book.  

The brief was to create a high-end ‘coffee table’ book to mark Phillips & Stubbs 20th Anniversary and the launch of their new Coastal & Country brand.   

The book is an engaging, personal journey around the towns, villages and countryside of the Southeast. Exploring the architecture, history and lifestyle of places like Rye, Battle, Winchelsea and Pett Level through the words, photography and artwork of artist Victor Alan Herbert.    

Victor Alan Herbert
Victor Alan Herbert left the Royal College of Art (RCA) in 1965 with a first-class honours degree and the RCA’s medal for ‘work of special distinction’. Since then he has had a distinguished career in fashion, design and as an artist. As a contemporary figurative artist he specialises in painting portraits of houses and architectural buildings throughout Europe.  

Martyn Stubbs, Managing Director of Phillips & Stubbs commissioned Victor to paint a collection of pictures. “I’ve often looked at photographs and pictures of Rye, and felt that they didn’t convey that esoteric feeling you get when you are in this place” says Victor.    

The Launch Event
The book was launched at a special event held in Phillips & Stubbs newly redesigned offices in Rye in December of last year. The office became a gallery space for the night to show the specially commissioned paintings. Invited guest included clients that the company had served over 20 years.   

We were also entrusted by Victor himself to print his own marketing material, to be given out at the launch evening.    

The Book
This was an extremely interesting and challenging piece of print management for besley & copp to project manage. Working closely with Victor, Victor’s wife Judith and of course Martin, the project involved some exciting print techniques and finishes including a new ‘soft touch’ cover which created almost a ‘suede-like’ feel; a publication that you just wouldn’t want to put down!   The whole project was more than just the book, because the book was more than just a celebration of the area and 20 years in business. The process of putting the book together primarily worked as an exercise of exploring and defining the values of the Coastal and Country brand.   

Victor himself believed that “The Coffee Table book is about the standards that Martin (Stubbs) wants to work to” with high quality content, photography, design and print finishing.   

The book demonstrates the company’s “knowledge and specialisation” with high-end and architecturally interesting property. Victor and Martyn’s aim was to create layout, content and design that were more evocative than standard estate agent marketing material.    

Phillips & Stubbs and the Mayfair Office
We met Phillips & Stubbs over four years ago via the Mayfair Office. besley & copp have extensive knowledge and experience of printing for the property sector and have been preferred print and design supplier to Mayfair since 2008.

Mayfair Office is a network of over 400 estate agents in the UK and worldwide handling prestigious properties. They provide these high-end residential agents with a dedicated London office along with a range of support services.   

One of these services is a cloud based marketing resource, powered by besley & copps eSP eProcurement tool.  

Members from all across this worldwide network can access a vast range of marketing collateral through eSP, while Mayfair Office can control brand integrity and message consistency from London.