GMUND Urban Paper Range Designed by Paperlux.

Designed by Max Kuehne and Daniela Gilsdorf of Hamburg-based design practice Paperlux (who boast clients by the likes of Hermès and Alexander McQueen), GMUND Urban is a new paper range by Southern-Germany paper company GMUND – drawing inspiration from the urban architecture of today.

Described as a paper collection acting as a homage to the materialities of the city, the collection focuses on warm and dusty colours juxtaposed against contemporary raw materials well known in the practice of architecture and interiors such as cement and timber. Material authenticity was achieved throughout the range, for example the pulverised stone sourced from an Austrian quarry which has been used within the Cement paper – the same stone that was used to construct both the Golden Gate and Sydney Harbour Bridges. The outcome is a paper product that boasts a rough, concrete-feel surface.

Another example of beautiful packaging, the entire collection of paper samples are housed inside a Hakoya Box, produced for GMUND in Japan. The collection also acts as an exemplar of a broad range of printing and finishes processes.

The basic concept of the design of the suite of elements is the notion of ‘the line’. Paperlux describe the line as an element which links all design disciplines, regardless of whether we fall into the field of architecture, interior design or product design. They note that the line connects or excludes elements, and the void space provides an opportunity for occupation of material.

Similar to the way in which a bento box is intricately stacked, the outcome of the exploration of ‘the line’ results in a highly resolved suite of packaging. For me, my inner OCD is totally satisfied with the fastidiously refined way in which the line can link and lock together the packaging elements of the collection.

Paperlux also notes that they customised the font Neuzeit Grotesk for the titles, headlines and notes throughout the work, the lowercase ‘R’ modified for both the titles and headlines. The monochrome palette is accented with copper foil, which is neatly tied in to the copper rivet detail to the merchandise bag handles.

I particularly like the naming conventions of the papers – Architect Black is a personal favourite.

[Images courtesy of Paperlux. Photography by Michael Pfeiffer.]