Custom-Made Fine Papers

Arjowiggins has crafted fine paper for two-and-a-half centuries. And every year we develop scores of custom-made papers to meet the demands of specific projects for our customers. Every variable is open to adjustment: material, weight, surface, colour, texture, inclusions, watermarking and size. We work on scales from smooth to rough, stiff to soft, bright to dark, opaque to translucent, bringing to bear all of the scientific knowledge, experience, skill and artistic flair of the experts and R&D teams at our mills.

Colour and visual effects

Colour is infinite. In papermaking, every shade of every red, blue, green, white or black that our colour experts match is a different point on the spectrum. Working from a Pantone number, a colour coordinate, a scrap of fabric, paper or other material, they use a specialist’s eye and the finest technologies available to formulate a recipe of pigments and dyes for producing bespoke paper of an identical shade.

Other properties, such as lightfastness, metamerism (appearing different under changing light conditions) and rub resistance, can also be adapted, and visual effects added to order, such as metallic finishes or inclusions of fibres, particles or minerals.

Fibres

The way any paper feels and performs physically is decided by what goes into it. Fine adjustment of the pulp used in a paper’s manufacture has an impact on its tactile qualities, softness, bulk, strength and foldability.

Responsibly-sourced wood fibres of different lengths can be blended to reach the right physical properties for packaging projects. With superior recycled pulp, our mills can also create deceptively pristine, high-performance recycled papers. Long, supple cotton fibres are ideal for made-to-order papers intended for processes such as embossing or hot-stamping, and for long-lasting archive documents. And other fibres, such as bamboo, bagasse and cocoa bean, can add physical qualities of their own.

Weight, stiffness, bulk and thickness

On our machines, we are able to produce tailor-made papers of the precise weight, stiffness, bulk or thickness our customers require for packaging or other projects. We manufacture weights from 80g to 450g, and offer a duplexing service for heavier-duty applications or double-sided boards. Whatever the end use, we can fashion a paper with the physical characteristics to fit the purpose.

Watermarking

Our experience in watermarking paper extends back even to before the first sheets of Conqueror appeared in 1888. Today, that skill and craftsmanship is channelled into creating bespoke watermarks from our clients’ designs. Logotypes, symbols, heraldic emblems, patterns and other imagery are converted into shadow, line or combination watermarks, often as part of a brand identity, or simply to add a distinctive visual element to stationery.

Surface Finishing

The sensation of paper between the fingers can convey as much to the user or customer as its appearance. Calendaring, in which paper is passed through highly polished heated rolls, allows us to finely control the structure and surface finish of the final product, from rough and unfinished to natural to an almost mirror-smooth finish.

Laid, felt and embossed textures

Since the lined surfaces of the earliest laid papers, applied textures have added a different dimension to our craft, as well as to the tactile and visual experience of paper. Feltmarking and embossing can add the subtlest of natural textures, such as stone, wood and leather, or offer a contemporary touch with more geometric patterns.

Laid

Laid paper, the first textured paper, has been manufactured for centuries. Its horizontal lines made a convenient guide to handwriting in the days of quills, metal nibs and inkpots. The texture is created by pressing a dandy roll with a laid mesh pattern into the wet paper stock. By adjusting the design of the mesh, the pattern left in the paper can also be altered to customer requirements, and line watermarks added to the sheet design.

Feltmarking

Feltmarking is a process that leaves a soft, naturally irregular texture on the paper surface. While the paper is still wet and soft, a rubber sleeve transfers the texture to one or both sides of the sheet, which then completes its drying process. There are feltmarked papers available in our stock ranges, such as Rives Tradition and Basane, but we also work with clients to produce feltmarked textures that are unique to them.

Embossing

Embossed textures are the most popular form of applied texture, pressed into dry paper rather than wet. The process is ideal for creating the crisp, precise patterns of papers such as Rives Dot, or heavy, deep textures such as KeayKolour Dragoon. It works best on paper with high-quality fibres and good bulk. Our mills offer around 100 stock embossing designs, including 13 in the Keaykolour range, and we produce custom-made rolls for clients with their own requirements.

Digital i-Tone for HP Indigo

HP Indigo is one of the world’s leading digital printing systems, and the i-Tone® paper surface coating process has been developed by Mohawk to give the very best, long-lasting, instant-drying, non-yellowing print result on HP Indigo equipment. We can apply the i-Tone® treatment to the majority of our paper stocks, and to custom-developed papers.

Surface treatment and sizing

Whether it’s to guarantee the smooth glide of a fountain pen across a paper surface, deliver exceptional printability or realise a visual or tactile effect of our client’s design, we can apply treatments and sizing during a paper’s manufacture that fine-tune its surface properties.

Size

We can deliver paper at any size in sheets or reels, as well as in A4 packs. Custom envelopes can also be produced to order from any paper, in any format and design. Features such as windows, flap shapes, printed logos can all be custom-produced.

Self-adhesive Creative Labels reels can also be cut in the size and length required by the customer.

Service

We take service as seriously as our craft. From delivering the perfect stock for an especially demanding bespoke project to working with our merchant partners on a solution for an international account, we aim to meet expectations every time.

Alive

Alive is a paper with embedded NFC (near-field communications) technology – a completely new concept. Alive allows smart functionality and interactivity to be integrated into any product produced with fine paper, and ushers in a new era of intelligent print media. Possibilities include packaging that carries additional product information, content that adapts to location or password-secure data.

For more information about Alive papers, visit our dedicated website.

Contact

For enquiries about our custom-made service, please get in touch.