Kentmere replacements for Art Document and Art Classic

I just received a new catalogue from Firstcall Photographic here in the UK and they are listing two new papers from Kentmere. The first is Art Matt -- a replacement for Art Document -- DW fibre with no super coat, only in grade 2. The second is Classic Matt, warm chloro-bromide fibre heavy paper 240gsm (triple weight?), again only grade 2. It's their replacement for Art Classic but without the textured surface.

So, it looks like Kentmere have succeeded in finding a new paper base for these papers. I know they were having problems with finding a replacement when I spoke to them in March. No release dates yet and the Kentmere website only has a brief mention of them in their announcement of the discontinuation of the Art Document and Classic Art. I'll try contacting them to find out if they are out yet.

Some good news though. I liked Classic Art, shame about the loss of the textured surface.

Cheers

Mike

I contacted them last week and the response I got was pretty short and to the point. The wording was

"Art Classic and Art Document are no longer available. If we find a replacement for the paper base we will manufacture it again."

Note the word "if". It leads me to believe they haven't found a supplier for the base yet.

I'll try contacting Firstcall and see what they say

On the Kentmere website they say that when and if the substrate testing proves satisfactory that the replacement paper will be released as "Art Matt."

The new First Call catalog, received today by a Brit friend, lists a new paper by Kentmere. It's called "Art Matt!"

"This double weight replacement for art document, is not super-coated and therefore is particularly suited to the use of inks, watercolours, dyes and the Bromoil process. kentmere only make this paper in grade 2."

If Art Matt is now being distributed and is in the pipeline, hopeully it will arrive here in the Colonies soon!

Cheers,

Gene

Just had an email from Firstcall and they are saying that Kentmere have a provisional date of the end of the year.

Mike

mikeg said:

Just had an email from Firstcall and they are saying that Kentmere have a provisional date of the end of the year.

Mike

Click to expand...

That's good to hear. I was a big fan of Art Classic.

had a look on the Firstcall website yesterday and both are apparently available-how soon is now?

It would be nice if they could re-introduce these papers in 2006, as it is their 100-year anniversary this year. I don't know what kind of volumes they sell or how big they are, but they aren't even remotely as active as Ilford, and their papers are hard to find outside UK, it seems. They seem to be struggling.

I have used Kentmere papers in the past and I like them very much (as much as Ilfords stuff), but when you have to search for their products, while Ilford is available on your doorstep, figuratively speaking, it's easy to be lazy. It just would be great if Forte, Efke and Kentmere for example had some participating presence here on APUG - with a little effort they would sell some more and have happier customers.

Since the swedish distributor of Kentmere (Kameradoktorn in Stockholm) went belly-up (or rather, gave up anything remotely analogue for the digital) the choice is to buy it from the UK. I haven't gotten around to that, yet.

In this particular case with the Art Matt, I'd be happy to hunt it down and see what it's like - as it stands to be a one of a kind paper for Bromoils for example.

EDIT: checked the distributors website and emailed them, getting a reply that they still do supply Kentmere in Sweden (although they don't show it on their website). Well, that's good news.

I don't think Kentmere have ever been terribly active on their own behalf outside the UK: certainly nothing like Ilford's visibility. Probably their biggest market was in the US selling under the Luminous (sp?) name and other 3rd-party own-brands. They are now distributing under their own name there since Luminous dropped traditional photography products. Possibly about time they did get a bit more proactive though, I agree.

Anyone who is sufficiently interested can spend a quid and download their most recent company financial accounts from the Companies House web site...

Cheers, Bob.

I was hoping that their "proactiveness" would rise quite a bit more during this year, due to it being an anniversary and all. They do have big advertisments in every number of the UK B&W Photography, and that's a good sign. And given that I now am able to find Kentmere "locally" I'll give them some (small but nonetheless) business to see if anything has changed during the last five years. I loved their Finegrain VC (semi matte) paper.