81 Years in the Making
Since its launch in 1936, Colorplan has been continually refined , perfected, and pushed to its limits; the designers and craftspeople that continue to make it their first choice have played their part too. It performs exceptionally well - on every printing process from letterpress to digital.
It's made to stand up to endless transformations - from business cards and boxes to paper bags and works of art. It's available all over the world - consistently beautiful on seven continents. And every one of its 50 colors and 8 weights is made, sustainability, in England. Colorplan represents an exceptional achievement in papermaking.
Here are some of the qualities that making Colorplan the preferred choice.
Intense Color Formulas
Colorplan's creation is an exacting art. The 50 colors are a unique blend, mixed from more than 50 high-intensity dyes and pigments supported by creativity, color science and generations of craft. Making each unique blend requires an absolute precision, where the color's formula is standardized within the strictest measures of optical tolerance. The outcome is that every Colorplan shade occupies its own dimension in color space defined by hue (tint), saturation (strength), and value (darkness or lightness).
Critically, the full color is added to the pulp before the papermaking process so that the pigments saturate deep inside the paper fibers helping them resist the effects of UV radiation, so that when the paper is folded, the color runs through the whole sheet. Colorplan's through-the-sheet deep-dyed vibrancy is demonstrated to most powerful effect in the high-octane shades of Fushia Pink, Purple, Mandarin, bringing impact to all applications.
Purity Principle
Colorplan White Frost is one of our most popular shades. it epitomizes the critical principle applied to all of our seven whites where every paper in Colorplan's exceptional white range is made acid-free, creating papers of exceptional longevity and opacity, idea when applications demand longer lasting purity and brilliance. These whites are made using pulp that is free of lignin. Present in wood cells, if lignin is not removed, it oxidizes (same chemical process that turns newspapers yellow.) The longevity makes it perfect for use in books, posters and for limited editions prints.
Innovative Chemistry
Unique Chemistry makes Colorplan. Its innovations in papermaking are exemplified in Ebony, an intense carbon-free black of such superior chemistry that it withstands rub against other surfaces and eliminates tarnish when foiled. This same laboratory expertise is key to every new color challenge tackled, with Ebony's 2011 launch in 2001 being a proud breakthrough in paper science.
It's also exceptionally lightfast and offers considerable resistance to fading, a quality of primary importance in luxury packaging applications.
Pioneering Sustainability
New standards are being set in papermaking process of Colorplan to make a positive contribution back to the environment. All the pulp is sourced from managed forests (for every tree felled, three are planted).
Pulp enters the process at 1% to 99% water, then becomes 93% solid material before the remaining extracted water is returned to the river in pristine condition. Bi-products from the production process are used in agriculture, and the chain of custody ensures that Colorplan is FSC certified. Colorplan strives to reduce the paper's environmental impact and are at ISO certification level in reducing energy consumption and waste generation without any compromise on quality.
Bespoke Possibilities
Colorplan has been tailored to match a specific creative requirement; if there's a color you need that isn't already one of the 50 shades in the range, our experts will create it. A bespoke color could be created from a paint chip, a sketchbook or a fabric swatch.
Bespoke making of Colorplan can also be delivered in a custom sheet size and weight. Colorplan has mirrored color trends in popular culture, but when that's not quite enough, we're here to help create a unique color signature.
Unsurpassed Testing
Colorplan passes a series of 8 tests that confirm it superior quality and versatility including: eight, thickness, smoothness, surface integrity, absorption, moisture content. relative humidity and bursting strength.
Papermaking with a twin wire creates the same surface on both sides of the paper, meaning the same results whichever side printed. A combination of fiber lengths is also critical. Long, flexible fibers give strength for creasing and folding; short fibers enhance formation, bulk, and surface for print. Supported by the remarkable internal structure, Colorplan's signature is a unique antique surface that in gently tactile but smartly uniform and which holds printed color exceptionally well.
Supremely Versatile
Internal strength, breadth of range and a unique surface texture all lie at the heart of Colorplan's amazing versatility. It has been a great performer with letterpress and litho, as well as a selection of colors coated for the digital press. It also responds beautifully to specialist processes like ebossing adn foil blocking, and at the finishers it folds and builds wit crisp, true lines into bags, boxes, envelopes and an endless list of final applications.
Transforming Paper
The possibilities of Colorplan are endless. A range of services to customize, convert and transform Colorplan are offered from sheets cut to size, 25 embossing patterns, and a suite of envelopes available through converters.
Worldwide Availability
Colorplan can be found and ordered in more than 65 countries. The global export builds on a dream that began with the founder, George Frederick Smith, a pioneer in paper who traveled the world by land and sea to forge international friendships, connections and partnerships, some of which continue to this day.
Whether you're printing in San Francisco or Sydney, or building a brand that reaches across every major marketplace, when you order Colorplan you can trust it will be consistent in every aspect, from continent to continent.
