Design

Firedog trip to a Papermill

At Firedog we love learning new things every day and if this involves being out of the office, then, we love it even more!

Recently, we were invited by GFSmith on a trip to the Lake District to show us the James Cropper Papermill.

GFSmith is an independent British company that provides lovely and distinctive coloured and textured papers. They work hand-in-hand with James Cropper creating Colorplan, a premium range of papers indispensable within the design industry. And they do it well, really well. Each paper is unique, has a different texture and personality and its own beauty.

Designers love paper, but not every one. I love getting a print brochure and feeling a nice texture under my fingers, or a different finish, but I never really gave much thought before to how each paper is made.

The people at James Cropper showed us the entire paper making process; how they prepare the fibres; the process of transforming the pulp into sheets; how the water is removed pressing the wet paper between rolls and the drying section. It was a fun and fascinating experience.

The highlight of our day was meeting Barry the colour specialist at James Cropper. He could match paper to any colour of the rainbow and he took the time to show us how this is done. Barry is such a legend that he even has his own specified colour of paper named after him.

A big thank you to everyone at GFSmith and James Cropper for a wonderful and educational trip…I think we’ll come back next year.