Evolving tradition: James Cropper Chairman on preserving colour for six generations

For as long as humans have existed, we’ve been using colour to express ourselves.

Social interactions have evolved, whole languages have emerged and died out, but colour is still there. From the earliest cave paintings first daubed tens of thousands of years ago to the vivid digital adverts designed to pop up on the latest HDR screens, our appetite to enrich our world with colour endures as a quintessentially human trait.

As such a universal part of the human experience, no one can truly claim to ‘own’ colour. But it does have a home – James Cropper’s paper mill on the edge of the English Lake District.  There is perhaps no more fitting locale for the home of colour. Our mill is surrounded by natural colours of every shade, from the lush greens of field, fern and foliage to the greys and browns of our ancient riverside buildings – all enriched, for nearly 170 years, by the spectrum of coloured papers made within.

From our earliest days, we’ve been defined by a pioneering mindset. Long before we began papermaking, our Burneside site had a rich industrial history processing grain, textiles and leather. Over time, it evolved to meet the changing needs of the world around it. That spirit of adaptation remains central to who we are.

In 1845, the Cropper family acquired the lease to Burneside Mill and began producing paper using one of the most advanced technologies of the time: the Fourdrinier machine, first patented in 1801. Just over a decade later, we became one of the first papermakers in the world to introduce coloured papers, using newly discovered synthetic dyes in 1856. This early embrace of innovation set the tone for everything that followed.

As the world changed, so did we. During the First World War, we supplied specialist paper for the British war effort. In 1978, we partnered with the Royal British Legion to develop the iconic red paper still used today for Remembrance Day poppies. Alongside these milestones, we invested in our local community, building homes in Burneside to house mill workers. Many of these houses still stand.

In 1886, the original mill was tragically destroyed by fire. Rather than marking the end of our story, the fire became a catalyst. Rebuilding began immediately, and by 1902, we had constructed the Potter Fell Reservoir to provide high-pressure water for the mill. This vital infrastructure continues to support our manufacturing processes to this day.

By the 1980s, our ambitions extended beyond traditional papermaking. In 1986, our research into non-cellulose fibres led to the creation of Technical Fibre Products, now James Cropper Advanced Materials. These high-performance nonwovens support sectors ranging from hydrogen and aerospace to medical.

While our roots run deep, they have never held us back. Instead, they have provided a foundation for continuous evolution – creatively, technically, and sustainably.

Today, we serve a global customer base with custom-made papers and advanced materials. Our papers are chosen by luxury brands, fine printers, designers and converters. Our moulded fibre packaging offers a renewable alternative to plastic. And our nonwoven materials are used in everything from aircraft and medical equipment to clean energy systems.

Innovation is not a department at James Cropper; it’s part of the atmosphere. It rises with the morning mist from the River Kent, weaves through the mill, and settles into every sheet we make.

Throughout our history, James Cropper has explored the infinite spectrum of colour, investing in our own colour lab to offer a suite of bespoke colour-matching services, and building a vast portfolio of over 2,000 individual live shades on-site – including 184 blacks and 62 whites. There is as much variety and skill in mastering whites and blacks as there is for every shade in between.

The Cropper family were originally Quakers, the famously trustworthy non-conformist sect, and I believe this has inspired our values down the generations.  Acting with care and responsibility are core values of James Cropper today and inform how we interact with our people, customers, community, and environment.

Our third core value – to be forward-thinking – is similarly deep-rooted.  From the earliest years of our business, we have sought out new technologies and markets as they evolved, including railways and, by 1900, insulating paper for electric cables.

However, perhaps our most important decision was to begin making coloured papers in the 1850s in response to the chronic shortage of good paper-making fibre. We found unwanted and dirty waste fibres and transformed them into a range of coloured papers, making use of the new and emerging dye industry. Our founder and my 3x great-grandfather always maintained that “nothing opens itself out to such constant development as paper,” and this belief is still a guiding light for us to this day.

The story of colour is one that’s worth preserving. But while there were once dozens of colour paper mills in the UK, today we are the sole survivor. That means we have a singular responsibility to preserve the art and craft of coloured paper. James Cropper is also one of only a handful of colour mills globally.

However, no other papermaker in the world allows customers to customise their colours and other specifications to such an extent, and could never begin to do this: it has taken generations to build this capability. Without us, anyone wanting coloured paper would have a much more limited choice, so I feel it is fundamentally important to preserve this.

Ultimately, keeping this tradition alive in Britain means safeguarding a unique capability that supports creative industries, sustains local employment, and champions sustainable production. It’s not just important to us, it’s essential to the future of our industry in Britain and beyond.

For decades, we’ve honed that expertise and supported it with state-of-the-art technology that enables us to match colours across any number of different fibre-based materials. The lab lets us test different options in collaboration with customers, demonstrating our proprietary dyed-in-the-fibre process, before quickly scaling up the exact colour formulation into full production. Over the years, the technology and science behind this process have evolved, but the goal remains the same – to bring the customer’s vision to life.

This continual journey of discovery and refinement is what led us to Coloursource, a curated portfolio of 50 signature shades that celebrates our legacy as the originators of coloured paper. This isn’t just a product launch; it’s an invitation. Coloursource brings together decades of colour expertise into one unified brand, offering unmatched vibrancy, durability, and creative potential.

What makes this moment even more exciting is that for the first time, James Cropper are directly associated with the product. For over 50 years, people have known and loved a very well-known coloured paper, without realising it was made by us. Now, we’re stepping forward and owning that story. It gives us the opportunity to help our present and future customers explore new creative directions and push the boundaries of what’s possible in coloured paper.

We’re also opening our doors, literally. We’re inviting customers to visit our Burneside mill, the home of coloured paper since 1856, to experience the development process first-hand. It’s about collaboration, storytelling, and giving our customers the tools to make these colours their own.

Coloursource is more than a product, it’s a statement of intent. We’re not just preserving tradition: we’re evolving it.

Our distinguished past is something we celebrate at James Cropper. However, we’re not in the habit of looking back – we use our unprecedented experience to make a material difference in the present, so we can deliver a brighter future.