James Cropper nails its colours to the mast with award-winning London Packaging Week showcase

British master papermaker James Cropper’s London Packaging Week stand stole the show at this year’s event, winning the ‘Most Interactive Stand’ award thanks to a booth that offered an immersive, multi-layered experience with attendee participation at its heart.

The strikingly colourful stand, dressed in flowing paper sculpture, brought that experience to life at Excel London through three interconnected narratives. Its interactivity reflects James Cropper’s open, collaborative ethos, earning it the trophy awarded by event organiser Easyfairs.

One narrative theme brought James Cropper’s ‘The Colours of…’ campaign to the capital, asking attendees a single question that is both simple and impossibly complex: What colour is London? Visitors cast their votes on a specially designed postcard, posted into a paper replica of an iconic London pillar box. London bus red received the most votes over the two-day event, beating out popular hues like brick yellow, cab black, and pub-tile green.

This sparked conversations about the places, memories, and experiences that enrich our lives, and the central role of colour in all of that.

Jordan Scott

Head of Marketing at James Cropper

“ What colour is London?’ sounds like a simple question, but people brought their own memories and emotions to the answer. We learned something from those conversations too, about how people experience colour and what makes a material meaningful to them.

That’s what makes colour such a fascinating part of our work. A colour can evoke an immediate feeling, yet reproducing it consistently in paper takes considerable technical knowledge and precision. We wanted visitors to explore that connection for themselves through the stand, feeling it and contributing to it rather than simply looking at it. ”

Jordan Scott

Head of Marketing at James Cropper

Another theme focused on James Cropper’s heritage and history, powerfully explored in the first public screening of the trailer for the upcoming documentary The Last Mill Standing. A large crowd gathered for a first look at the documentary, which offers candid insights into the daily operations at James Cropper’s historic Burneside site, looks to highlight the human experiences involved in running the UK’s last remaining specialist coloured paper mill. The documentary’s premiere date will be announced soon.

Visitors to the stand could explore what that expertise means in another narrative concept given physical form on the stand: The Paper Portal. This paper sampling and specification experience brought together its breadth of papers, colour expertise, and bespoke material capabilities, giving visitors the opportunity to touch and compare materials while considering possibilities for their own projects.

The Most Interactive Stand award recognition reflected an approach built around participation from the outset, with each experience giving visitors a way to contribute or make discoveries of their own.

Jordan added, “We wanted to create a stand where people could get involved and help direct a two-way conversation. Their interest in where paper comes from, who makes it, and what it can become was inspiring, and a great reminder of why we do what we do. The award means a great deal because it recognises that exchange of ideas, with visitors sharing their perspectives as we shared our expertise.”