Paper and Print is a contemporary digital and offset printing house with a knack for creative design and a vision to become trendsetters of the industry. This printing house is run by brothers, Daniel and Andrew after taking on their family’s traditional printing business. Primarily, they are a printing company but they also design consultancy on top of their printing services. Today, we had the chance to talk with one of the co-founders, Andrew.
How did the idea of ‘Paper & Paper’ first come about?
It was a family business and our family have been in the printing industry since the 1980s. Back then, the business was handled by our father who focused on printing in large quantities. He was more preoccupied on the manufacturing process rather than the creative aspect of printing.
What was the biggest shift in the brand since it started?
Currently, Paper and Print is more contemporary as we focus on non-traditional printing methods. This will give a different look to our products. We also shifted from printing in large quantities to smaller batches with an eye for creative design. This shift was tough as we were accustomed to our father’s traditional business concept but we managed to depart from it.
What is one lesson you have gleaned from managing your brand thus far?
As a creative printing house, we really had to pay attention to the smallest detail in our production process. If we were to miss out one step, that will jeopardize the entire production process. It will be a chain reaction that affects every subsequent step which may radically alter the design of our final product.
In terms of the marketing side of things, we have been quite active on our social media platforms. Previously, our family business mainly relied on the word of mouth of our customers. Since the business was headed by our dad, he was not well versed with social media. Now, a majority of our business and sales comes from customers who engage on our social media platforms. In turn, that also helps to spread the word out.
How do you source the materials required to create your products?
We mainly source our paper from the local paper suppliers. These paper suppliers will either produce their paper locally or import it from overseas. We also source different types of paper - they are either FSC Certified Papers or Virgin Pulp Papers. FSC stands for the Forest Stewardship Council that monitors the environmental and social standards of paper production.
All FSC Certified Materials are environmentally friendly and they can be fully or partially recycled. Virgin Pulp Papers can also be FSC Certified or non-FSC Certified. While we are able to source for readily available FSC Certified materials in the market, they tend to be more expensive. Hence, cost and customer preference are a few factors we take into account when sourcing our materials.
Ultimately, we hope to change the perception of paper products in the market with our knack for creative design.
What is the best part about managing your brand?
We really enjoy working with our current team which consist of a diverse group of people. We have people to help out with our design, marketing and the production process, so it is nice to see everyone working together and contributing to the progress of things. When my brother, Daniel and I took over the family business, I was able to convert Paper and Print into my own creative outlet as I wanted to get into the creative business.
What do you hope to achieve with your brand?
We hope to become trend setters within the industry and we are constantly on the lookout for new printing techniques, materials, papers and finishing. We also want to impart our knowledge of printing to realize new designs into paper products. Ultimately, we hope to change the perception of paper products in the market with our knack for creative design.