81 www.printmonthly.co.uk September / October 2025 - Issue 356 mising their environmental footprints by aligning with the circular economy.” James Cropper encourages its customers to visit its Lake District mill, to see how the dyes and pigments interact with different fibre materials for themselves. This enables the company to agree on a colour shade with the customer that can be quickly scaled into full production. While Barber stresses that “we are entirely led by the needs of the customer and the application,” he underlines the importance of companies to bring about sustainable change themselves by offering new solutions to the market. “As sustainability regulations around the world continue to tighten,” he says, “demand for functional specialty papers for a wider range of applications will only increase. This should intensify focus not just on the materials that are used, but the processes used to make those materials in an effort to minimise water and energy consumption. “Speciality papers are facilitators of sustainable change, and we expect to see the pace of that change continue to increase in the coming years.” The Art of Paper-Smithing Another UK paper manufacturer with a breadth of speciality paper options is GF Smith, which has succeeded in making its Colorplan range a mainstay in the market for over 50 years. GF Smith also has strong ties to German papermaker, Gmund, which has allowed it to further enhance its offering by stocking products including the Gmund Colors and Gmund Creative Metallix ranges, among a range of other offerings. Speaking about the company’s speciality paper offerings, Matt Ford, paper consultant at GF Smith, stresses the importance of quality materials in adding to the eye-catching nature of printed products. Ford says: “Although the demand for volume commodity papers has steadily reduced over the years, clients are still drawn to print. Whether this be for packaging, brochures, stationery, greetings cards, or catalogues, a thoughtful approach to printed material helps you stand out. “The GF Smith range allows designers to specify material that will get attention, be treasured, and offer a premium look and feel that online solutions simply cannot compete with. If something is being designed to be on a screen, it doesn’t matter what it feels like. For physical objects, it’s a totally different dimension.” As with James Cropper, GF Smith has focused on developing new products made with alternative substrates, aiming to significantly increase the variety available to customers. As Ford states: “Whether that’s using hemp, brewing waste, grass, or seaweed, for example, there have never been more options for graphic designers and printers. That’s why we at GF Smith care so much about texture and work hard to offer papers that are engaging and tactile.” In Ford’s opinion, every design process should begin with paper choice. He stresses that paper consultants at GF Smith will always guide clients through the process of choosing a material, and love to be involved as early as possible. As he puts it: “The shade of white for the pages of a book or brochure will govern how readable the text is, or how the photographs will ‘pop’. For packaging, the paper needs to have strength, longevity, and shelf appeal – making the right paper choice can seriously boost the appeal of a product.” Ford believes that, with lives being more online now than ever, the overall volume of print we encounter will only continue to decrease. However, in his opinion this means that it will become increasingly important for prints to be specialist, bespoke, and therefore be made with high quality specialist paper, with the print process falling into a more exclusive and luxury part of the market. “It creates an incredible opportunity for companies to stand out,” Ford posits. “If printed material is beautifully designed and produced, it can resonate in a really powerful, long-lasting way. Our screen-based lives are convenient and immediate, but we have more senses than just sight – print allows us to touch and smell an object. “At GF Smith, we’re betting that high-quality print will remain valued and relevant, and we’ll work towards that by curating and offering a wide range of papers which delight designers and the public.” If the printed material is beautifully designed and produced, it can resonate in a really powerful, long-lasting way The first working continuous paper making machine, the Fourdrinier machine, was installed in 1803 Factoid SPECIALITY PAPERS | JONATHAN PERT ▼ GF Smith has strong ties to German papermaker, Gmund
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