When Woodlodge, the UK’s leading supplier of garden ware and horticultural products, needed to find a sustainable solution for their exhibition stand, they turned to Antalis and Xanita.
When Woodlodge, the UK’s leading supplier of garden ware and horticultural products, needed to find a sustainable solution for their exhibition stand, they turned to Antalis and Xanita.
Sustainable exhibition stands
Trade fairs are an important event in the diary of Woodlodge – who supply pots, water features, furniture, and more, to garden centres all over the UK – and none more so than Glee, the international festival for all things garden, leisure and pet, which takes place each year at Birmingham’s NEC. With a huge range of products to display, Woodlodge required a stand of considerable size: 1,300 metres squared. In addition to product displays, the stand was also an opportunity for them to showcase the point of sale materials they can provide their retailer customers.
The Planning
When planning for Glee 2022, Woodlodge initially contacted a display company to provide estimated costs for building the stands walls and dividing rooms, with Woodlodge’s in-house Graphic and Print Production team managing the rest of the stand build and decoration. The costs quoted, however, were prohibitively expensive, plus there was some concern among the Woodlodge team about the lack of sustainability of the build materials to be used.
As they mulled over options, Woodlodge Graphic and Print Production Manager, Steve Partington, recalled Antalis’ Sustainable Street exhibition stand and thought they might be able to execute something similar. With just five weeks left until the show’s stand build weekend, Steve contacted his Antalis account manager, Mark De Lancey.
Antalis has been a key supplier to Woodlodge’s dedicated print production suite for a number of years. Steve believed that with Antalis’ support, he and his team, comprising a designer and an operator, had the skills necessary to produce many of the stand’s components themselves. The key, however, would be getting the structural aspect of the stand design right.
The Solution
Mark and Steve discussed Xanita at length, agreeing that the paper composite board the company manufactures, combined with its supporting design and conversion services, could be the perfect solution. Mark arranged an online call with the team at Xanita that same day and an hour later the plan was coming together!
Working closely with Steve, who had prepared a three-dimensional model of the stand, Xanita helped to design the stand’s primary structure, comprising an 800 square metre wall system made from sustainable Xanita fibreboard, an engineered fibreboard made from recycled used cardboard boxes.
The aim was for the entire stand to be made using completely sustainable and recyclable materials. In total, Woodlodge selected six products from Antalis’ visual communications range:
- Xanita, an eco-friendly lightweight, high strength fibre board, was selected for the construction of a large part of the stand. Xanita Print was used for the walls on four sections of the stand, and Xanita Kraft was used to make a wall trellis, from which plants were hung and which became a display area for Woodlodge’s new range of recycled ocean plastic products. In addition, Xanita, both Print and Kraft varieties, were chosen for the creation of podiums and other display features
- Libra Grey Centred Display Board, a material manufactured from quality folding boxboard liners, was selected for its excellent ink lift - which provides an impressive print finish -to create ‘skirt’ wraps for the base of two of the stand’s display units and to produce racking panels and shelf strips
- Katz Display Board, a recyclable, environmentally friendly alternative to rigid plastic materials, made from wood-pulp, was used to create ‘skirt’ wraps for the majority of the stand’s display units, and to produce product boards
- Coala Printbond cost-effective Aluminium Composite Panels were used primarily for decorative purposes, but to also hide carry holes on the large corner plinths
- Priplak® is a strong yet flexible sheet that is ideal for communication and display, packaging and stationery. For the Woodlodge stand this was used to create robust product tags 50 x 80 mm in size – as every product Woodlodge sells is pre-priced and barcoded. Priplak was also used for product backing cards on blister packs, chosen because of its outstanding print quality and weather resistance
- Coala Wall and Wall, a heavy, textured vinyl is suitable for short-term indoor and outdoor use for one-part floor graphics that do not require additional lamination. This material was printed with a brick effect and used to wrap large wooden plinths located on two of the stand’s corners. Steve commented, “To be able to feel the texture as well as see it in the image is really cool!”
The Technique
Print: All rigid products were printed using Woodlodge’s 2.5m wide HP Latex R2000, using HP Ecoguard inks. The roll materials, Coala Printbond and Coala Walk and Wall were printed using Woodlodge’s HP Latex 365, using HP Ecoguard inks.
Cut: Cutting, V notching, creasing and kiss cutting performed on the Kongsberg X24 table.
