Meet the creatives at the cusp of paper’s renaissance at this inspiring event series

Paper. It’s a material that everyone, creative or not, has used. Drawing pictures in childhood, reading a book or signing an important document, it’s a medium deeply embedded in our daily lives. But nowhere else does its vast potential come to life better than in the creative sphere. The scrap of paper that saw the scrawl of that first idea, the thick textured paper that makes its way through a Risograph printer, the carefully selected sheets that comprise a new artist monograph; its uses are many and its effects – both visual and physical – are profound.

Few prove this more than GF Smith and Gmund, two of the longest running and most respected creative paper suppliers and producers in the world. To boot, GF Smith will soon be unveiling its new forward-facing rebrand, designed by the cause-led branding and communications agency Templo. With such a long legacy in paper, and at such an interesting point in its history, GF Smith are in the unique position of being able to detect and predict what the future of paper might look like. This vision is the basis of its upcoming event, New Dimensions: The Future of Paper, in partnership with Gmund and It’s Nice That, coming to stages across the UK, from London to Manchester and Glasgow. Here, you’ll get the chance to be one of the first people to get the behind the scenes of GF Smith’s rebrand, as GF Smith’s global brand director Ben Watkinson and Templo’s founders Pali Palavathanan and Anoushka Rodda will share the ins and outs of how they created a visual world that both looks to the future and harnesses the breadth of colour GF Smith has to offer, as well as hearing from some exciting creative voices.

In an increasingly digital world, where does paper stand? How does it hold up against the ease of screens and online creation? The answer? Very well. A new generation of creatives – those who’ve entered the creative industry with both technology and paper at their fingertips – are showing the ever-inventive ways that the two mediums can elevate each other. At New Dimensions, GF Smith and It’s Nice That have invited a selection of creatives who are blending analogue and digital mediums in unique and interesting ways, forging a new path for the future of paper. They’ll be giving us an insight into their practices, and the many ways we can rethink the role of the most enduring of creative materials.

The events will take place as follows:

London, 28 January at Protein Studios, Shoreditch

Manchester, 29 January at Aviva Studios, home of Factory International

Glasgow, 30 January at BAaD (Barras Art and Design)

Please note these events are over 18 and the venues operate a challenge 25 policy so please bring an ID. Each ticket offers one complimentary drink then the bar will be cashless. The venues are wheelchair accessible but if you have any accessibility requirements, please don’t hesitate to contact [email protected].

Read on to find out more about each speaker.

Hato

Hato and Hato Press are two parts of one brilliant whole. One is a design studio, and the other is a printing press, but both come under the same ethos of brilliant cultural interaction and expression; from the studio’s branding for the food app Delli, to the press’ ongoing zine series which sees it publish the work of creatives across the globe. But how do both of these sides come together? At New Dimensions you’ll be hearing from Kenjiro Kirton, Hato’s founder and Hato Press’ co-founder about the dual nature of Hato, how it goes about balancing these two distinct branches, and the beautiful ways digital and analogue intersect across both.

Alice Isaac

Alice Isaac is an artist, animator and director who sits at the forefront of the collage medium’s recent resurgence. Her vibrant, eye-catching work has led to commissions across culture, sport and fashion, from the Mercury Prize and the Lionesses to Vice and Fred Perry. Previously studying VFX, Alice has taken the digital movement techniques she learnt and funnelled it into her current practice. Now, a big part of Alice’s work is pushing past “traditional notions” of collage, by blending analogue techniques with digital ones. At New Dimensions, Alice will be taking us through her process, how she glides seamlessly from paper to screen-based mediums to bring her pieces to life.

Holly Eliza Temple

Holly Eliza Temple is a creative immersed in Manchester’s independent publishing scene, being the founding editor of the food-focused magazine, Filler. With each issue focusing on a culinary theme, the writer and designer invites others to submit writing and visual commissions that all come together in a beautifully designed publication with a tactile finish. With such a rich knowledge of publishing and what it takes to design something digitally that then becomes a physical publication, at New Dimensions Holly will be telling us just what it takes to build a publication – and the community that surrounds it – from scratch.

Danielle Rhoda

Danielle Rhoda is an illustrator and animator who’s well loved for her organic, sketchy style and brilliant way of capturing characters. Having worked on projects with Home Mcr and the People’s History Museum, and been commissioned by publications such as The Guardian, and The New York Times, Danielle also directs animation at the National Film and Television School. At New Dimensions, Danielle will share her journey from static illustration to animating her illustrations and how she manages to translate the analogue feel of her sketchy textures into all of her digital work.

Inès Gradot

Inès Gradot is a creative artist known for mixing mediums. Her trademark prints of flowers, pastoral scenes and pleasing patterns begin as inky marker pen drawings before becoming digital files to be put through a Risograph printer, the end result bursting with vibrancy and colour. Alongside her creative practice, Inès is also a Risograph technician at Glasgow’s famous Risotto Studio. And so, at New Dimensions, Inès will be shedding light on just what it takes to perfect everyone’s favourite print method, and the inventive ways you can make use of its imperfect nature with paper and colour choices.

Charles Young

Charles Young – also known by his Instagram moniker Paper Holm – crafts paper sculptures; they’re beautiful, tiny masterpieces that show the versatile nature of the medium. The colour of paper is also a key facet of his work, with his ongoing passion project of structures based on colour combinations in the painter Wada Sanzo’s 1930 book Dictionary of Colour Combinations. In recent years, Charles has made his structures more complex too, making them mobile and then animating them in motion. At New Dimensions Charles will be sharing with the audience why paper is a medium full of possibilities beyond what we might initially expect, and how he turned to animation to elevate his creations.