Our 2014 Calendar: Exploring the beauty of the Lakes with paper

The natural splendour of the South Lakes, the home of James Cropper for nearly two centuries and the inspiration for generations of manufacturing innovators, artists and writers, has been uniquely captured in the pages of the company’s stunning 2014 calendar.

Celebrating the natural beauty of the region, the never-ending evolution of technology in paper manufacture and unrestrained creativity in contemporary design, the lavishly presented calendar offers unexpected views of the National Park’s famous, untamed landscape. Aiming to engage the viewer in twelve consecutive moments of contemplation, each month reveals a small part of the region in abstract form, the flowing geological ridges foil pressed into specially selected, coloured papers from the James Cropper range.

Each body of water has been made to stand out as a die-cut in the design, making the most breath-taking features of the landscape affect the same sense of drama on the calendar’s design. Almost at random, these jagged cuts form new versions of the map, triggering frequent colour-clashes as the paper selected for later months appears randomly through the holes in the previous pages.

Created by Manchester design studio, Hand, in collaboration with the luxury paper maker James Cropper, the calendar has been designed to reveal its full glory at the end of the year, when the pages can be stripped of a perforated panel denoting each day of the year, leaving squares that make up a the complete map of the dramatic lakes and fells when placed side-by-side. It is a gift that the team at James Cropper hopes communicates not only their goodwill for the year ahead, but the versatility and sustainability of their processes and papers.

Mark Cropper, company Chairman and sixth generation of the Cropper family, said: “The calendar is a gift that we hope our friends, colleagues and collaborators will recognise as typical of James Cropper’s capabilities when it comes to innovation in paper production, offering a world of possibilities to everyone from international fashion labels to prestige car manufacturers. It also reiterates how proud and protective we are of the beautiful region we call our historic home and continue to gain inspiration from the nature around us every day.”

Progressing through the year, the palette chosen for the calendar pages has been purposefully selected to reflect the seasonal climate. Opening with light colours of cream, pebble and ash that denote the muted hues of winter, the calendar moves through to the sunshine of June with a vibrant yellow named Citrine. The lush green of August gives way to the purples and reds of autumn’s leaf fall, before ending the year in the luxurious Bright Red of Christmas.