According to tradition, a different country adorns Kurz wall calendar every year. It is no coincidence that Vietnamese motifs were chosen for the 2024 finishing. With the Vietnam theme, the company wants to pay tribute to the new production site, which opened on September 8, 2023 in the Vietnamese province of Binh Dinh.
The unique nature and culture of Vietnam served as an inspiration for choice of motifs. The lotus flower, the central motif, can be found in lakes and ponds all over the country. Referred to as the ‘Flower of Life,’ the lotus flower reflects the essence of Vietnamese culture because it represents purity, commitment, optimism, and the ability to preserve the country’s unique traditions in the face of great adversity. The central image on the intricately embellished calendar page is adorned with a pink lotus flower: in the center we see a pink lotus blossom standing out in the picture, along with a golden dragon, lush green rice terraces, and in the background, the soft blue of the sky. At the heart of the lotus flower on the calendar page is the famous watchtower of the temple complex. The temple complex was built according to traditional Vietnamese pagoda architecture and attracts countless tourists and believers year after year. Opposed to this is the modern architecture of the future: Landmark 81 is a gigantic skyscraper in Ho Chi Minh City and, at 461.2 meters, the tallest building in Vietnam. In the illustration on the right edge of the calendar page, it glows against the dark night sky.
What’s more, the Vietnamese dragon also shapes the country’s culture. The highly symbolically charged creature, which stands out in gold in the upper right corner of the calendar page, comes from myths of the ancient Vietnamese people.
Here the steps of the production process:
1- Initially, all outlines and calendar elements were applied using cold transfer with ALUFIN® and overprinted in-line with four colors.
2- The lotus flower’s stigma was embossed in pink using Lumafin® 760.
3- Two embossings were done with Luxor® 392: The red petal area was enhanced through micro embossing, and the country’s silhouette was embellished with flat embossing.
4- Three calendar elements were embossed in Kurz’s signature gold tone, LUXOR® 385. The KURZ logo was embossed, while the year, and the star were flat raised. The lotus flower stigma, the border of the year, and the dragon were round embossed. The lotus flower stigma not only stands out visually but also through the tactile effects of the delicate nano embossing L801-050.
5- Finally, the large dragon image on the left side, the clouds, along with the dots and the structure inside the lotus flower were decorated through blind embossing.
For all embossing, the stamping technology of Kurz’s subsidiary Hinderer + Mühlich was used. The applied finishing processes like cold transfer and hot embossing are just a small part of the extensive portfolio that Leonhard Kurz offers.
