Australian Paper

Looking good sustainably isn’t one of the fashion industry’s strong suits. Dyeing processes; sweatshops; high carbon footprint caused by transportation; the water-intensive cotton farming industry… these are the darker shades of fashion that horrified Kelley Sheenan as a young New Zealand designer. The difficulties in obtaining information on sustainable fashion encouraged her to start her own magazine, Peppermint.

With its suggestively fresh green flavour, the quarterly magazine’s first issue hit the shelves in August 2009. “It was never the intention to start a ‘green Vogue’,” says Sheenan. “It’s about educating the fashion  industry about sustainability, but also changing fashion intrinsically. It’s not about skinny supermodels. It wasn’t about replicating what was going on elsewhere. It’s attacking fashion in a different way. It’s about finding clothes that will last and are good.”

Rather than conduct exposés into individual label’s sins, she prefers to pat on the back those that are producing sustainable design. “Finger painting’s not positive,” she believes. “You need to show that sustainability can take little steps. There is no such thing as completely green, anyway.”

The response to Peppermint has been surprising, says the now 37-year-old Brisbane-based designer. “It came out at a time when things began to explode with eco stuff. Everyone seemed to need it. Leonardo DiCaprio’s website [11thhouraction.com] caught wind of it and wanted to feature it.”

Not surprisingly there have been talks with two different publishers, but Sheenan backed out at the last minute, content to publish on her own terms. With a print run of 10,000 (largely in Australia and NZ) she also ensures her own publication is green. “We use FSC® certified paper, a waterless printer, and we still publish from our home office, so it’s as small as it can possibly be,” she explains. “We don’t have much of a carbon footprint.”

As the magazine’s graphic designer, Sheenan’s approach is that “green design should be invisible…people expect green to look less good, but graphic designers are communicators.”

Would Peppermint reach more people and be more sustainable as an online entity? “To reach the fashion industry we had to be on the shelf,” she adds. “People still want to touch and feel.”

www.peppermintmag.com.au

www.sociallyresponsibledesign.org

www.11thhouraction.com

If you’ve managed to get your hands on an iPad before anyone else, you may have also unwittingly taken a step away from being a green consumer. Electronic media is becoming more common place, but printed media may be one thing we need to hold on to in a sustainable future.

www.papereveryday.com.au

www.a3p.asn.au

www.pneb.com.au

www.pefc.org

www.paperonline.org

www.fsc.org

To put it simply, fashion labels have to look their best. Making no exception, when Kirrily Johnston approached VervePrint to produce their recent catalogue, director Karl Page says he was looking for a stock with “the look and feel that would best represent the Kirrily Johnston brand.” Working closely with the designers, Page settled on Stephen, describing it as a “nice, toothy, non-bright eco-sensitive stock.” Stephen is one of Spicer’s most environmentally and socially sustainable papers available, another important outcome for the client. “Every brand should be aware of the small steps they can take to make a difference,” says Page. Stephen is one of the Australian Paper range that has full cradle to grave Carbon Neutral certification from the Australian Government Department of Climate Change and comes with a carbon calculator, so you can find out the exact amount of carbon you offset by your purchase.

When the client has an end result in mind, Page sees his role as to present “the best, most cost effective option, always with the environment in mind. Stephen fitted the brief perfectly.” As an image conscious industry, fashion labels have strived to not only look green, but also make a valuable contribution to the environment. Finished with a ‘French fold’ and black stitching, the project gives a sophisticated look with a highly sustainable choice of stock.

“I’m passionate about packaging design,” says Benja Harney. “So often people do bog standard boxes. But with a little thought and care you can do amazing things.” The Sydney-based designer has created pop-up boxes for Smirnoff Black Vodka and Clarens among others. But over the past five years his work has been used to beautiful effect in fashion. Stylists have commissioned Harney to create window displays for Hermes, pop-up books for Harper’s Bazaar and sets for Commonwealth bank. For a designer working with paper he was also a natural to work with renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, whose buildings are constructed from recyclable cardboard. Harney designed the box and cover prospectus for a recent Ban presentation. While his handmade designs have emerged serendipitously with a backlash against digital design, Harney says his work relies on computers in the design stage. “Part of the magic is getting the technical, mathematical feeling, but made by hand where you can see human error. There’s a friction which people love. But it’s the simplicity of paper that people respond to.”

Alongside his packaging and paper-sculpting, Harney plans to move into furniture made from recycled cardboard. Milan’s Salone del Mobile is in his sights. “Paper in the home is a wonderful thing,” he says. “It’s a natural product and even if it’s designed beautifully it doesn’t cost the earth.”

Despite the many great changes wrought by the electronic revolution, the print medium still holds an essential place in the Information Age. This is because a technological revolution has inevitably taken place in print also. But, despite greater efficiencies, and the print industry following more sustainable models, misconceptions continue to prosper – the main one being that electronic media is cleaner.

In 2006 Sir Nicholas Stern, Head of the Government Economic Service for the British Government, tabled a report into the effects of climate change on the world economy. Among the many comparative figures and charts Stern produced in his 700 page report was an evaluation of the carbon footprint of electronic media vs. print. A simple chart illustrates his point.

Because paper and print are renewable and recyclable, they have an immediate advantage over electronic communications that use new and additional energy every time they are opened or read from a computer screen. A computer’s plastics, glass, aluminium, monitors, components and parts are also recycled at much lower levels than paper products.

Printing on the other hand is a far greener business thanks to alcohol-free printing and vegetable based-inks, to name just two. Paper too is produced sustainably. It can be recycled easily (2.5 million tonnes of paper and paperboard are

recovered and recycled in Australia every year) to make more, and it comes from a renewable resource. Indeed the economics of the paper and printing industry rely on recycling because in some cases recycled paper is often cheaper than the original fibre.

Of the original fibre that’s used, increasingly all that’s used for printing and communication paper is sourced from softwood plantations and regrowth forests. Third Party verified schemes, such as the Forest Stewardship Council® or Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification ensuring that forest harvesting in Australia is well managed and credentials maintained. What’s more only a very small amount of paper and printed material ends up in landfill.

Today there may be more publishing platforms to choose from, but market research confirms readers still prefer the tactility of paper and print.

Book sales are increasing in Australia ahead of population growth, and we read more magazines per capita than anyone else on the planet. Less glamorous perhaps, but nevertheless vital to the economy, is business, advertising and government pre-printed material (such as direct mail and annual reports).It constitutes almost 60% of all the paper used in Australia.

The reason why two billion dollars is spent on direct mail each year is simple – because it achieves greater penetration and higher response rates with its target market. A July 2009 study conducted for the Australian Catalogue association showed that Unaddressed Advertising Material (UAM) is the least costly and most effective means of communicating detailed product and price information to households and businesses. The reason why paper and print continue to rate so highly in advertising is that research shows people retain and refer to print matter at a later time. It’s a tangible commodity and appeals to peoples’ senses of having received something of value, even before they embark on their purchase.

Then there are the social and economic benefits of a paper and print industry that employs more than 76,000 everyday Australia and creates almost $21 billion of national income every year.

As the former chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, Jonathan Porritt, declared, “There aren’t many industries around that can aspire to becoming genuinely sustainable. The Pulp and Paper industry, however, is one of them. At its best, this industry is inherently sustainable.’’

* that’s the maximum because once its printed, its printed and can read and used over and over again without new CO2 emissions.

# that’s without accounting for any emissions associated with creating the computer file or emailing it.

 You’ve still got mail. The advertising media landscape has changed dramatically over the years. And yet traditional media, like unaddressed mail, continues to thrive. Ken Bishop, Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Catalogue Association, explains the appeal of print vs digital media.

What percentage of advertising and marketing is constituted by unaddressed mail?

It’s a $2 billion industry. We are probably between one sixth and one seventh of the industry spend, which is fairly significant.

Have consumer habits changed in the digital age, regarding unaddressed mail?

Consumers seem to embrace more and more media. Over the last eight years catalogue volumes have increased year on year. Even with newer digital media, research suggests people are consuming media in a complementary way. The media supports each other. Retailers continue to do TVC and radio, yet you often read or hear at the end of the ad, ‘catalogue out now’. Billboards also reinforce that cross-pollination of media platforms.

So what is the catalogue’s role?

Some companies see catalogues as brand reinforcement. It’s almost subliminal branding. They may not need something immediately, but once there is a need for something, they then jump on line. That, to me, is complete complementarity with one another.

Is there a particular audience that can only be reached via unaddressed mail?

The stats are strong that 70% of people after reading a catalogue make a considered purchase. Grocery catalogues have a high readership and response rate, but it depends on demographics. It’s driven by different needs and requirements.

How has unaddressed mail changed since the digital age?

A lot of people still think catalogues are a ‘mass drop’ – just a shotgun that reaches as far and as wide as possible. It’s quite the contrary. Even though the volumes are significant the targeted understanding and the knowledge the distribution companies and retailers have of particular postcodes to communicate with the right customers, at the right time, to the right product, is pretty sophisticated. It cuts down waste and also the retailer is only spending what they need to.

Has the way catalogues are designed and presented changed?

Certainly the design and presentation has changed. We’ve all got shorter attention spans. Retailers can get their brand, products and whatever message they’re trying to get across more quickly. The design, placement and presentation

is a new world. Certain groups consume that information faster.

Will it ever go completely digital?

Our research suggests people still like to engage in that tactile experience of paper. There’s still something about the human psyche that enjoys that ability to touch and feel.

Has there been an increase in packaging to achieve ‘cut through’?

It’s still a relatively simple medium in terms of packaging. It’s still put through your letterbox. It’s all down to design and targeting. The old days of saying ‘let’s put everything into it and hope they read it and buy it’ have gone. Research from 2009 told us that a catalogue stays in the home on average between 2–5 days, and quite often is read by 2–3 people. That’s a decent shelf life for something not considered anything more than just underaddressed mail. It obviously has some repeat attendance. That’s one of its strong merits and obviously the brand and product owners believe that too.

What sustainable practices does the catalogue association require or encourage?

All the paper in the Australian catalogue market comes from sustainable plantation timbers. Catalogues are 100 % recyclable and nearly 70% of catalogues are recycled via kerbside collection. It adds value to the recycling stream.

How do the lifecycle assessments of digital marketing compare with print?

I get very disturbed when I hear people saying I can look at catalogues on line for half the night, and have no awareness that that has a carbon footprint as well. There’s a great big power station in Yallourn burning coal so we can all stare at our computer. And then when we throw [the computer] out every two or three years it doesn’t end up as ‘pretty’ in landfill as paper does.

“There are two ways can go with sustainability,” says architect and designer Toby Horrocks. “Design something so robust that it never gets thrown out, which fights the consumerist trend. Or you could go with it, and change all the time by making your product from recycled sources.” Such is the pragmatic philosophy that drives Horrocks’ Freefold designs.

Made from recycled  cardboard his fold down interiors and shelving are an antidote to what he has seen around him while living and working in the CBD – skips full of dumped interior fittings.

Embracing the natural human impulse to consume, Horrocks has built a modular interior that can be recycled when boredom or a new tenant arrives. An experimental prototype, which resembles a theatre set, was built for the 2010 State of Design festival installation Look Stop Shop, together with Sydney-based designer Kristian Aus. The work has led to a commission to design another popup, this time a juice-tasting stand at a shopping mall. 

Horrocks has been experimenting with post-consumer waste cardboard furniture and modular systems full time since leaving award-winning architect John Wardle. Horrocks was Research and Development architect with Wardle, a practice renowned for its detailing.

Working with repeatable modular patterns for walls and windows was, in its own way, part of being “drenched” in the computer modelling he would undertake for his modular shelving systems. Further evidence of the repeatable patterning we see in public architecture can be seen on the reverse side of his modular shelving, which act as room dividers and screens.

“Computer modelling is my realm. I’m not hands on folding paper,” he says. While experimenting with computer modelling he designed a “beautiful geometry” for a shelving system, but wanted it more lightweight than plywood, and less expensive than a South African Xanita Exboard he’d been testing. He found that local cardboard could be used cheaper and more effectively. The revised modular systems are made from 1.8 mm thick cardboard and allow “nice sharp folds – it’s more like origami,” says Horrocks.

As well as Freefold Furniture, he now runs his own architecture practice, Toby Horrocks Architecture. “Sustainability drives my practice,” he says. “I hope to influence the culture of waste.”

www.tobyhorrocks.com