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G.F Smith are the makers of the worlds most-loved and distinctive papers, with an incredible history of 135 years crafting and curating different paper ranges.
Over the last 80 years, G.F Smith has continually refined and perfected their Colorplan paper range, of which Ashley & Co. are proud to use for all packaging — from the Waxed Perfume Candle boxes to our gift boxes.
The iconic Colorplan range consists of 55 colours, 25 embossings and 10 weights, and all papers are made sustainably in Great Britain. Seen in boxes to business cards, paper bags to works of art, Colorplan is recognised worldwide and available in seven continents.
Paper, by its very nature, is one of the world’s most sustainable and renewable materials. Continually recycled and natural, it can repeatedly be brought back to life and repurposed.
As well as being fully recyclable and biodegradable, Colorplan has FSC certification, meaning that the pulps used are all from managed forests. It is also Heavy Metal Free and, because the bleaching process avoids the use of harmful chlorine, it is classified ECF.
To honour our packaging, we were delighted to speak with Ben Watkinson, Global Brand Director of G.F Smith to chat about all things colour, packaging and history of Colorplan.
Growing up I spent most of my weekends following my Dad around the sample department of the paper company he worked for - so I guess 'paper' has always been in my blood! Paper wasn't part of my plan though, I studied marketing and I've spent my career working with creative agencies and brands, but I had always been intrigued by G . F Smith and kept an eye on them from afar - I remember the first promo I received from them, it was designed by SEA Design with photography by John Ross - I was blown away by it and knew that it was the company I wanted to work for .... fast forward a few years and I eventually found my way to G . F Smith!
It's busy, that's for sure! Always starting with an early get up with the kids .... I love being at home in the morning with my wife Rachel and our boys Henry and Robin! Family is so important to me and we have such an amazing family unit. Then a typical work day for me involves talking with the creative, brand and international teams - reviewing projects and making sure we're continually looking to inspire the creative world - and working with our creative partners. Generally speaking I'll start my week at home in Hull before heading down to London or jumping on a flight somewhere!
One of the great things about Colorplan is the consistency of the colours we offer in the range, some date back to the early 1900s. That doesn't mean we haven't removed colours, of course we have over time, as well as adding some too! The popularity of colours massively varies by country but classic colours such as Imperial Blue and Claret are always well received.
We've always overcome adversity and come out as a better business, surviving two world wars with our premises in Hull and London both destroyed within 48 hours of each other during WW2 - we were writing to customers about a delay to their service 24 hours later and selling paper from a residential premises.
Whilst we have such a great history we're a future focused business and we're always thinking about what's next and looking to work with and inspire future creative generations.
1941 – Bombs fall on the G.F Smith factory in Hull during a sustained attack. The site, with its machinery, stocks and the company archive is reduced to rubble, and the business moves to a rented house on Park Avenue.
Absolutely. Colour and brand personality are intrinsically linked!
You use some of my personal favourite colours, but also colours that are not used as commonly - which I love!
Claret (The colour of Bonberry) by Colorplan
In 2016 we started to look at Colorplan and the range of colours. We couldn't decide on what a new colour might be so decided to ask the world! That's how the project started, and what began as an idea of crowdsourcing the 51st Colorplan colour quickly became one of the biggest colour surveys ever conducted. Not only did we find people's favourite colours, which differed by gender, age, locations and even weather at the time of submission - but we found out how colour made people feel, which for me was the really interesting thing.
Colour is of course such a subjective and personal thin, but for me:
Factory Yellow (obviously)
Tabriz Blue
Mandarin
Hot Pink
Finished off with Ebony
That probably sums me up in a colour palette : )
Factory Yellow (The colour of Tui & Kahili) by Colorplan
We were lucky enough to visit on business and I was speaking at Semi Permanent in Wellington. We loved New Zealand!
It was such a special trip. I mean just Waiheke Island alone - that is such an incredible place! That was definitely a stand out. We had amazing food in Ponsonby and the kids loved the Zoo in Auckland. Oh and the views in Wellington…
