When it comes to being a creative, there’s nothing like the feeling of finding a material that performs the way you’ve always wanted it to. For those who work with book covers, luxury packaging, stationery or branding collateral, this often means finding paper you can trust.
Regardless of the printing process, colors read at 135 gsm are the same as colors read at 350 gsm. Coloursource is a range of dyed uncoated papers produced in the Lake District by James Cropper, which has quietly built a reputation for being exactly this material.
Now, in a new chapter, Coloursource is going global – with Swiss paper and covering specialist Winter & Company handling global distribution and bringing the range to designers, publishers and brands through a new dedicated online store.
From factory to world
James Cropper has been manufacturing at the same location in Burnside, Kendall since 1845. It is a family business with deep roots in the English Lake District and is based in a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Coloursource is one of their most unique collections: 50 colors in three matching weights (135 gsm, 270 gsm and 350 gsm), all uncoated and undyed, meaning the color runs throughout the entire paper rather than sitting on the surface as a coating. This means designers working across multiple formats and weights can maintain color consistency throughout their projects without having to switch suppliers or deal with unexpected tonal changes.
“Designers want the colors to stay true and the paper to behave predictably during production,” said Paul Barber, MD, James Cropper. “Coloursource is designed to provide that reliability, along with the look and feel people expect from dyed, uncoated sheets.”
Winter & Company is a 130-year-old business trusted by leading designers and global brands of premium cover materials, and distributing Coloursource is a natural fit for a partnership that has been in business for 50 years, with the range itself featuring the same number of colours. With subsidiaries on several continents and regional centers designed to keep services local, Winter brings product ranges truly close to designers, wherever they work.
Paul Davinson, managing director of Winter & Co. UK Ltd, said: “The launch of Coloursource has been a huge success. Customer support for high-quality British-made dip-dyed paper is a strong driver of this goal. As we move into the next phase, we will sell Coloursource through a dedicated online store, which means we can bring the product to the market more efficiently.”
Made from paper
To commemorate this new phase, Winter commissioned photographer Susan Castillo to create a series of paper sculptures using Coloursource. Castillo, who shot the striking floating paper images for the original Cropper ad campaign, approached the brief with the same tactile rigor that characterizes all of her work. The sculptures are entirely handmade: no CGI or digital technology, just talented artists working directly with materials.
These images capture something that is easily overlooked when it comes to paper as a medium—its physical weight, its ability to hold its shape, the way its color changes when light passes through its uncoated surface. Featuring Castillo’s unique attention to light and composition, the photographs make a compelling case for the aesthetic potential of materials often viewed as purely functional.
In addition to the sculptures, Castillo also visited the James Cropper Factory to document the papermaking process itself, providing a rare glimpse into the origins of the materials and the processes by which they were produced.
hand printing
The event also showcases the work of screen printer Dan Mather, who has worked with some of the most respected figures in the graphic design world, including Marina Willer and Matt Willey. For this project, Mather produced a set of limited-edition posters printed entirely by hand on Coloursource, demonstrating the series’ performance in the more demanding analog printing process.
Screen printing requires a paper that absorbs ink cleanly and remains true to form. Watching Mather work on Coloursource illustrates what the material is like as visually as any spec sheet.
The event, with its sculptures, screen-printed posters, and everything in between, is a compelling demonstration that paper, with the right care and craftsmanship, is a creative medium in its own right.
