Today someone from G.F Smith came in to talk to us about what makes them special as a paper supplier, the importance of using quality stock, and the company in general.
The Company
G.F Smith deal in "amazing and beautiful paper stocks" from all over the world, although 60% of them are sourced in the UK, with the more specialist and unique ones coming from abroad from countries such as Germany and Japan.
Their Services
The main paper that they sell is the paper that they own, Colorplan, which comes in 50 different colours, 8 different weights, and 25 different embossed textures. Other than this they also sell various coated and uncoated styles of paper on the black/white spectrum as well as specialist papers such as light-sensitive paper.
As well as selling paper, they provide services such as making hand-made envelopes, duplexing, triplex, etc etc (layering paper on top of each other) and hand-making ornate books that you can use for portfolios or as display pieces.
Advantages of using G.F Smith over other paper providers is that you can specify exactly how many sheets you want to order, rather than having to order in multiples of something, which would leave you with spares/waste. They also have a 25 sheet minimum order, which is low compared to other providers.
The Importance of Stock
He told us about how over the 6 years he's been working for G.F Smith, orders have been declining in number because of how digital design is taking over from print, but the orders that do come are for more bespoke print, as print is slowly taking a more quality over quantity route. Because of this, stock is becoming an increasingly important factor in print, and it's important to consider the stock before you start doing any design work so you know the limitations of the printing, folding etc etc.
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