Sustainable display materials

The Planning

Norwich is home to a surprising number of high-profile brands; Lotus Cars, Mackintosh’s, Start-Rite, Barclays and mustard manufacturer Colman’s all have their roots in the city. Norwich is also home to Brandland, a membership organisation for people and companies working in and around branding, in and around Norwich; The History of Advertising Trust (HAT), a registered charity founded in 1976 and dedicated to preserving the heritage of the advertising industry; and CIM Signs and Graphics, a signage, graphics and wide-format printer. Brandland, HAT and CIM Display recently collaborated for the Iconic Norwich Brands exhibition at The Forum, Norwich, showcasing over 60 brands established in the city.

As print sponsor for the exhibition, Mark Baker of CIM was keen to influence sustainable design, including specification of materials. Mark discovered that the intention had been for foamboard display materials to be used to create the exhibition’s display panels, however, he knew that there were more sustainable materials, well suited to this type of job, readily available. In addition, Mark had recently attended a talk by the Chief Executive of the Design Council, Minnie Moll, at a Brandland conference, about the importance of recommending sustainable materials and following her advice, he recommended that two sustainable display substrates from Antalis should be used instead.

The Solution

Katz Display Board – used to create a series of display panels (some printed, some unprinted) upon which the 60 featured brands were presented.
Xanita Print – used by CIM to create their own display at the event. Using cut-files supplied by Antalis, they created a backdrop, chairs and tabletop using Xanita Print, while Xanita Kraft formed a centrepiece through the stand.

The Technique

Print: The display materials for the exhibition were printed using CIM’s new swissQprint large format printer.

Cut: The materials were cut on a finishing table by British manufacturer Blackman and White.

The Result

Thanks to the use of Katz Display Board and Xanita, the exhibition structure would be fully recyclable at end of life. But better still, the robust nature of both materials meant they could go on to have a second life before being recycled: the Katz Display Board panels were donated to Stepping Stones, a charity that supports young adults with learning disabilities in Norwich, for the display of artwork, while CIM’s stand, which was entirely constructed from Xanita, was returned to CIM’s premises to be on display in their reception area as a tactile example of what they can produce.

Parts of the stand have also gone into storage for use at future exhibitions while the chairs are used by the team during breaks. Once reused effectively, and truly at the end of their useful life, all the materials will be recycled into wastepaper recycling streams.

The success of the exhibition was such that a larger exhibition - to celebrate even more of the city’s brands - is now being planned. HAT are also looking to take the exhibition to other towns and cities around the country to celebrate their local famous, and not-so-famous, brands.