Monday, January 13, 2025
Florian Kohler, Gmund: « It’s easy to offer paper, but infinitely more interesting to understand what will help a brand stand out »
Gmund is renowned in the packaging world for its luxurious ranges of colored papers. Florian Kohler, CEO of the family-owned Bavarian manufacturer, discusses the future of non-cellulose materials, Gmund’s acquisition of French supplier Cartonnerie Jean FG and the Unfolded Festival, the cultural event that is breaking industry codes. Read the interview, previously published in Formes de Luxe’s print magazine, below.
How would you define Gmund’s identity?
Florian Kohler: At Gmund, we’re not just a supplier of beautiful papers; our job is to discover the paper that conveys a brand’s DNA. To this end, we’ve developed tools to find not only the right color, but also the right texture from among a hundred or so different options. We also organize workshops upstream, well before the paper is created and this is our real expertise. To produce a customized paper, the MOQ is three tons, and for our existing stock, it’s around 200 kilos.
Are these workshops a made-to measure service?
FK: Yes, but we go further to create a new technical approach. For example, a brand comes to us looking for red paper. With the Brand Experience Manager, we try to understand this choice: what does it represent for the brand? It’s easy to make an offer of red paper, but it’s infinitely more interesting to understand what will help the brand stand out.
How much of your sales are generated by packaging?
FK: Depending on the year, between one third and one half of our business. We’re also very strong in publishing, which accounts for around 15-20% of our business, and not just in coffee table books. We don’t produce just for luxury, we also manufacture for more everyday products.
How do you see the trend among certain brands to do away with secondary packaging?
FK: As a citizen, I see this in a pretty positive light. As an entrepreneur, I don’t see it as a threat given that secondary packaging offers necessary functions, including product protection and transportation. This trend isn’t affecting Gmund at the moment, especially as far as the luxury segment is concerned.
Where are you in your R&D into alternatives to cellulose?
FK: We’re carrying out extensive research in this area through our Greenfibra Labs, an entity we set up to develop new materials from natural fibers. Our approach is not to add these different fibers to cellulose pulp to make it beautiful, but to find a waste material that can replace wood cellulose: hemp, cocoa husks, straw, grass... At the moment, we’re testing jute carrier bags for coffee, as well as lavender, chamomile, cornflower, rose and even pencil shavings! The ecological advantage here is to source as closely as possible to the manufacturing site, and to find fast-growing plants that require less energy to process.
You’ve launched a 100% hemp paper?
FK: Yes, our Gmund Hanf range, which we believe is the only 100% hemp paper in the world that can be produced on an industrial scale. The line also includes 50% and 10% hemp variants. To achieve 100% hemp, we had to modify the machine dedicated to this type of product (notably because of the plant’s long fibers), which required a major investment and two years of research. The resulting product is still paper, but with a very natural feel, due to the material itself. Hemp can be recycled along with paper, but its strength makes it more easily recyclable. This would suggest that a plastic barrier has been incorporated, but this is not the case – this is a zero plastic product. Its coloring is less homogeneous than that of cellulose-based paper, but that’s part of its appeal. Production is limited, and it’s around 35% more expensive than cellulose with similar grammage. Its advantage also lies in sourcing, as hemp is produced in Europe.
What about your latest launch?
FK: At Gmund we launch two collections a year. With the most recent, Beauty of Ecology, we are showing that it’s possible to produce 100% recycled material with a ‘noble’ finish. With seven shades, the range is designed for box lining, folding cartons and bookbinding. Available in 120g to 320g, other weights are possible.
Is this a coated paper?
FK: We’ve developed a new machine to apply a very thin metallic layer to obtain an iridescent effect, but without any metallic pigment or plastic inclusions and the paper is 100% recyclable. The production process is confidential.
In 2022, you acquired the French company Cartonnerie Jean FG. What was behind this investment?
FK: Cartonnerie Jean offers the only 100% post-consumer paperboard with a very specific feel and color range. We’ve been trying to achieve this feel for years, and despite our expertise in texture, we haven’t succeeded. But at Cartonnerie Jean, texture is a matter of happenstance; it’s the nature of the material that produces that texture. The flagship range, Les Naturals, is available in 30 colors in 330g, 430g and 600g. Since the acquisition, we’ve been investing in staff and machinery; it’s a fairly old factory and it needed an update, especially in terms of electronics.
Do you intend to integrate Cartonnerie Jean’s technology at Gmund’s site in Germany?
FK: No. The advantage for the customer is Gmund’s design know-how, with the possibility of developing new products at Cartonnerie Jean.
Are there other areas of expertise that Gmund is lacking?
FK: Yes of course! We have numerous projects underway as our customers are always looking for something new, but further acquisitions are not on the agenda.
Unfolded festival: When design inspires industry
For the past eight years, just a stone’s throw from its headquarters in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Gmund has been organizing the Unfolded Festival, an annual event focusing on "design, print and analog" communications. In its early days, the festival was centered around the Gmund Awards, and its guests were “those who love paper and its creative potential”, explains Florian Kohler. A few years later, the papermaker added an exhibition around the event to demonstrate paper-related expertise: printing, decor, design and materials... And today, a cycle of conferences devoted to creativity and industry completes the experience.
"With time, Unfolded Festival became the world’s biggest event for analog design: a BMW executive came to talk to us about the sensation of touch in the BMW of the future, Vanessa Brizon, Artistic Director of Cheval Blanc, explained the importance of touch in Cheval Blanc hotels, Marianne Guély, who is perhaps the world’s greatest paper artist, imagined paper chopsticks to conduct an orchestra. For us, Unfolded Festival is the innovation event that nourishes us," Kohler adds. The fourth edition of the festival will be held on September 19, 2024.