Graphic Thought Facility masterfully unites Fedrigoni’s expansive paper range into a singular collection

Fedrigoni, one of the world’s leading paper companies, have unveiled a revolutionary update to their swatch book; bringing together their hugely expansive range of papers in a demonstration of masterful bindery and thoughtful design.

Designed by London-based design studio Graphic Thought Facility, the Paper Box sees the introduction of a new sans serif to the Fedrigoni identity system; including a customised variation of Forma DJR. Principal and Creative Director Paul Neale explains “Forma DJR is a very good interpretation of the original Forma,” and was used as the secondary font across the entire project. “But for our specific headline setting, we needed something ‘between weights,’” Neale tells us, “and wanted to enhance the roundness of the font.”

Calling on the help of HouseStyle’s Dave Farey and Richard Dawson, GTF crafted a single-case, bold headline font for the Paper Box. “They started from scratch,” Neale adds, “looking at Aldo Novarese’s original drawings in Nebiolo’s original type prospectuses from the late 1960s” for inspiration. The new sans serif was decided in response to GTF’s total review of the entire Fedrigoni brand, looking to introduce a more powerful and distinct graphic language to the identity system. It also has a more technical advantage, being “more fit for purpose across both headline and all that small tabular information,” Neale explains.

Not wanting to stray too far from what is easily identifiable as being part of Fedrigoni’s brand, they kept the individual swatch books that make up the collection at the size of their existing predecessors. “There was no reason to change this,” Neale notes, “it’s proportions are elegant, and it is a good size for most shelves.”

Despite being a beautiful object in its own right, the Paper Box is fundamentally a tool; with an in-built flexibility to adapt as new swatch books replace their older counterparts. “Over time it will be supplemented with a whole series of individual range swatch books, beginning with Sirio,” Neale explains, with all the future swatch books sharing the Paper Box’s original design principle – such as a newly produced volume dedicated to papers compatible with the HP Indigo press.

To get your hands on a copy of the Paper Box, please speak to your local Fedrigoni Paper Consultant or contact [email protected].