MATERIALS | NEWS Materials manufacturer, GF Smith, has seen a significant boost in its social media presence in the year following its full rebrand, with one of its recent videos gaining millions of views. GF Smith unveiled a rebrand designed by communications agency, Templo, over a year ago in January 2025. The rebrand initially received mixed reactions from the print and design industries, with many people making their opinions known on social media. However, since the rebrand and the subsequent revamp of its social media output, the paper company has seen a significant uptick in engagement and followers. The company now has over 139,000 followers on Instagram, with many of its posts receiving thousands of likes. One of its most recent videos, made in collaboration with Pureprint Group, has racked up over five and a half million views and over 85,000 likes. The video demonstrates the construction of colourful sleeves to house swatches of GF Smith’s Geltex range, a tactile paper range designed for book covers, box wraps, and luxury packaging. The sleeves were constructed using GF Smith’s Colorplan materials and were printed by Pureprint. The Colorplan range was itself recently reimagined to include more colours, finishes, and weights. ‘Satisfying’ craft videos have gained particular viral momentum in recent years, with their popularity attributed to their broad, universal appeal GF Smith video goes ‘viral’ following 2025 rebrand Paper and board supplier, Elliott Baxter & Company (EBB), has collaborated with Art and Design students from Farnborough College of Technology (FCOT) on a project showcasing the versatility of paper materials, as part of celebrations for Love Paper Week. As part of Love Paper Week celebrations, EBB challenged students to treat paper as “a material in its own right” – asking them to fold it, cut it, layer it, and transform it through light, texture, and movement into interesting and functional designs. To support the project, EBB supplied a pallet of white and coloured paper and card stock, envelopes, and self-adhesive materials. EBB labelled the resulting submissions as showcasing “exceptional originality, craftsmanship, and conceptual thinking.” The winning entry was a ‘paper dress’ by firstyear Fashion and Textiles student, Ava Harrison. The dress includes thicker Buckram embossed Lessebo Design Smooth White crafted into a corset, with each section seamed and incorporating a laced back fastening. The dress will be exhibited on EBB’s stand at The Print Show in September, with Harrison invited to attend and see her work showcased. She was also awarded £100 in Hobbycraft vouchers to support her ongoing studies. In addition to celebrating Love Paper Week, EBB has announced that it is now stocking the Adestor of range self-adhesive sheets from European paper manufacturer, Lecta. The Adestor range includes both split-back and solid backface materials, designed to offer converters and printers flexibility across a broad spectrum of labelling applications. With a variety of adhesive specifications available, the product is suitable for multiple end uses ranging from standard identification labels to promotional and retail sticker production. Adestor has been formulated to support consistent and strong printing results, developed specifically for print operations producing labels and stickers at scale. EBB celebrates Love Paper Week Paper and packaging manufacturer, DS Smith, has reportedly achieved a “new world record” for boating in a vessel made of its corrugated cardboard materials. Crew members made up of DS Smith employees rowed the catamaran-inspired craft at the ‘Blue Ribbon of the Weser’ boat event, which is held every two years on the River Weser in Minden, Germany. The fibre-based boat measures approximately 12m long by 3m wide. The 23-strong DS Smith crew paddled the boat over 250m in distance, which they say qualifies it for world record status as the “longest corrugated cardboard boat of its kind” in the world. The crew documented their world record attempt and submitted it to the Rekord-Institut für Deutschland (RID), the primary German organisation for certifying world records, shortly after the event. The construction approach for DS Smith’s boat involved using a double wall of corrugated cardboard comprised of Kraftliner paper. The paperboard used for the outer layer of the corrugated material was comprised mainly from virgin wood fibres or recycled pulp. DS Smith achieves “world record” in corrugated cardboard boat By Jonathan Pert By Jonathan Pert 14 email: editor@printmonthly.co.uk March | April 2026 - Issue 359 By Jonathan Pert Kraftliner paper is designed to be suitable for heavy-duty applications, and can be made waterproof for set periods of time [L to R] Prize winner, Ava Harrison, and Clare Johnson, marketing manager for EBB
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjM0NDIxOA==