The Paper That Holds Its Colour How Coloursource Became A Designer Staple And Its Next Chapter

Creative Boom: News Creative Industry The paper that holds its colour: how Coloursource became a designer staple Swiss paper specialist Winter & Company is bringing the beloved Coloursource range to designers worldwide. And to mark the occasion, they've commissioned a series of stunning hand-made paper sculptures by photographer Susan Castillo. Written By: Katy Cowan 19 March 2026 When it comes to being a creative, you can't beat the feeling of finding a material that behaves as you always hoped. For those working across book covers, luxury packaging, stationery or brand collateral, that often means hunting for paper you can rely on.

Colour that reads the same at 135 gsm as it does at 350 gsm, no matter what the print process. Coloursource, the dyed-through uncoated paper range produced by James Cropper in the Lake District, has quietly built a reputation for being exactly that material. Now, in its next chapter, Coloursource is going global – with Swiss paper and coverings specialist Winter & Company taking on worldwide distribution and bringing the range to designers, publishers and brands through a new dedicated webshop. From mill to world James Cropper has been manufacturing on the same site in Burneside, Kendal, since 1845.

It's a family-owned company with deep roots in the English Lake District, and based at a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Coloursource is one of their most distinctive ranges: 50 colours across three matched grammages (135 gsm, 270 gsm, and 350 gsm), all uncoated and dyed through, meaning the colour runs through the entire sheet rather than sitting on the surface as a coating. It means designers working across multiple formats and weights can maintain colour consistency across a project without switching suppliers or wrestling with unexpected shifts in tone.

"Designers want colour that stays true, and paper that behaves predictably in production," says Paul Barber, MD at James Cropper. "Coloursource is made to deliver that reliability, with the look and feel people expect from a dyed-through, uncoated sheet." For Winter & Company – a 130-year-old business trusted by leading designers and global brands for premium cover materials – distributing Coloursource felt like a natural fit for a partnership that's been running for 50 years, with the same number of colours in the range itself.

With subsidiaries across multiple continents and regional hubs designed to keep service local, Winter brings the range genuinely closer to designers wherever they're working. "The launch of Coloursource has been a great success," says Paul Davinson, MD of Winter & Co. UK Ltd. "The support from our customers for premium dyed-through paper, manufactured in the UK, is a strong driver for this.

As we enter the next phase we will sell Coloursource through a dedicated webshop, meaning we can get product to market even more efficiently." Paper as raw material To mark this new phase, Winter commissioned photographer Susan Castillo to create a series of paper sculptures using Coloursource. Castillo, who previously shot the striking floating paper images for the original Cropper campaign, approached the brief with the same tactile rigour she brings to all her work. The sculptures are made entirely by hand: no CGI or digital trickery, just a talented artist working directly with the material.

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The article discusses a significant product expansion that enhances brand reliability in design materials, which is impactful for the industry, while the concept of color consistency is familiar but still relevant to brand strategy professionals.