GF Smith’s Rebrand Marks 140th Anniversary

It’s all smiles at GF Smith as the paper specialist celebrates its 140th anniversary with a rebrand designed to connect with a new creative generation and support access to creative education, plus a tie-up with Bavarian paper company Gmund, becoming its exclusive UK distributor.

The partnership with Gmund was premiered on Tuesday, 28 January, at a packed-out event at the Protein Studios in London’s Shoreditch, with another taking place in Manchester on yesterday and Glasgow today (30 January), where the GF Smith team and their German counterparts are showing off the mill’s paper collections, and igniting the love affair with paper which has resulted in the marriage.

“This is a really big day in GF Smith’s 140-year history,” summed up Ben Watkinson, GF Smith’s global brand director.

Now the sole UK distributor for Gmund, the collaboration brings together two respected brands celebrated for their dedication to quality, innovation and the art of paper-making, and access to the entire collection from the business dating back to 1829 allows GF Smith to offer the widest selection of coloured paper to UK creatives.

And GF Smith’s MD Gareth Sheekey said: “We are thrilled to partner exclusively with Gmund and bring their outstanding papers to the UK market in full. This collaboration perfectly aligns with our mission to champion creativity in the world of design and print. Together, we will provide unparalleled choice and inspiration for our customers.”

Above: The Gmund launch was packed with creatives.
Above: The Gmund launch was packed with creatives.

The event came on the day GF Smith launched its rebrand which was revealed last night, with the logo dreamed up by cause-led branding agency Templo having a distinct smile beaming out in the bespoke sans-serif typeface – GF Smith Homie by Blaze Type – from the bright and bold backgrounds.

Representing the first major branding project for the company since 2014, it wanted to cut through the noise and connect with its creative-sector audiences while supporting its growing worldwide reach and ambitions and embodying the character, community, colour and creativity at the company’s core.

“We felt that our visual identity, though much loved inside and outside the company and right for GF Smith at the time, no longer reflected who we were as an organisation or as people, and that it was the right time to change, to create a new energy for the brand and, above all else, to look forward to the future,” explained Ben.

Above: The Hull factory with the new branding.
Above: The Hull factory with the new branding.

The new branding also encompasses the new GF Smith Charitable Trust, which has been set up with 2% of the company’s annual profits being donated to support access to creative education and creative-industry careers, providing grants, tools, materials, and training in both the company’s home postcode of HU2 in the city of Hull, and across the UK.

The branding is to be introduced in a range of merchandise and apparel including partnerships with sustainable brands Nalgene and Pangaia, and profits from sales will go directly to the trust pot.

Gareth said: “As GF Smith continues to lead the UK’s premium paper market and grow internationally, this new identity will play an essential role in extending our global reach and sharing our love for paper with new creative audiences around the world.”

 

MORE NEWS
StationeryHouse
 
The popular Somerset retailer has relocated its store in Wrington to larger premises in Winscombe, North Somerset....
LAMY_2025_HarryPotter_nexx_PopUp-Image
 
After the sell-out success of its first Harry Potter collaboration last year with the AL-star, Lamy has introduced its next collaboration with Warner Bros. Consumer Products....
ArdenCreativeStudio
 
New crafting brand launched at CreativeWorld specialising in high-quality papercraft products for cardmaking, scrapbooking and journalling and will only sell to retailers, never direct-to-consumer....
Temu_SF
 
Chinese online marketplace Temu was taken to task by greeting card publishers and artists whose designs are being plagiarised by sellers on the platform....
BIRA
 
BIRA has warned that retailers across Britain face troubled times ahead despite last week’s Bank of England interest rate cut to 4.5%, as the Bank halves its growth forecast for 2025 to just 0.75%....
4
 
Ryman chairman calls on the Government to do more to help small businesses in his key note talk on day three at Spring Fair....
Get the latest news sent to your inbox
Subscribe to our daily newsletter

The list doesn't exist! Make sure you have imported the list on the 'Manage List Forms' page.