There’s a pattern that repeats throughout history: a novel gadget comes along and we assume that it will replace what came before it. Television was supposed to kill cinema. Streaming was supposed to finish off CDs, cassettes and vinyl. We were warned digital cameras would make film obsolete and that email would consign handwritten letters to history.
Yet time and again, the arrival of the new makes us value the old – the things that were once deemed ordinary come to be cherished and what was considered everyday becomes distinctive. History suggests that new technologies rarely erase their predecessors entirely; instead, they redefine their purpose and deepen our appreciation for them.
A material advantage
Designers, including those most immersed in all things digital, are fast learning that human judgement and originality are becoming more valuable as they become less common. Generative AI is making content infinite and free, creating a pervasive digital fatigue. As screen saturation leaves us with a sensory deficit, we are seeing value shift to what cannot be prompted or scrolled past: weight, texture, finish, provenance, aroma. And paper – the material we were repeatedly told was dying – is being celebrated anew, re-emerging as a signal of authenticity and trust.
We’re seeing significant advancements. At Italian paper manufacturer Fedrigoni, for instance, new barrier and functional treatments can reduce or, in certain applications, avoid the need for plastic laminates, helping brands improve recyclability and progress towards their sustainability targets.
Fibre innovation is also expanding the material palette, incorporating recycled materials, by-products such as sugarcane bagasse, cotton linters and alternative fibres including cotton and hemp. Papers can also incorporate distinctive fibres, inclusions and visual effects, creating unique material identities that are difficult to replicate and immediately recognisable. Some are even made with a brand’s own excess material worked into a bespoke sheet.
And we are seeing luxury brands increasingly adopt paper as a part of their product experience. A 2025 Bain & Company report found that half of luxury packaging leaders expect sustainable solutions to account for more than 30% of luxury packaging sales within three years. Based on a survey of more than 500 executives across the luxury packaging value chain, the finding suggests that materiality and provenance are becoming competitive advantages rather than simply cost considerations.
Paper is technology
The same shift is visible at the very top of the market. For high-net-worth individuals, paper ranging from bespoke stationery to archival-quality print has become a quiet marker of exclusivity, while across the wider packaging industry, brands are turning to considered materials and finishes to signal quality.
This pivot to physical permanence is evident across the creative industry. When Interstate reached 25 years in business, we opted for a physical book over a digital retrospective – a solid, permanent object beautiful enough for a coffee table, yet meaningful enough to pick up time and time again. This choice reflects a broader trend of agencies prioritising tactile experiences. Where paper was concerned, Fedrigoni was the partner we trusted to bring our vision to life, standing as an industry cornerstone that has been manufacturing in Italy since 1888.
As an agency, we pore over the right suppliers, printers, embossing, varnish, and weights – it’s vital that we push hard on the print side of each job, and paper plays a huge part in that tactile experience. We know that months of design work and investment can live or die on the paper stock.
The drawing board
We still start most things with pencil and paper, as putting down rough shapes and keywords gets ideas out of your head while they’re still instinctive and alive, and leaves space for interpretation and happy accidents that digital tools can later refine. When something looks complete too early, people hesitate to change it, and exploration narrows, so it remains useful to capture gut feelings before they’re filtered through interfaces or technical limitations.
Fedrigoni has spent close to 140 years reinventing how paper is made, refusing to let a long history mean the manufacturing process should stand still. So, in some ways, it’s as much of a tech company as we are. Interstate might be a much younger business, but the same restlessness runs through us, from brand creation to digital experiences and creative technology products.
We often say, “distinction is in the detail”, and that’s as true for a typeface kerned to the pixel as it is for a paper’s grain, hue, and the way a varnish catches the light on a spine. Paper stock is part of brand storytelling and should be chosen with the same care as a word or an image.
Many of Fedrigoni’s core processes have stayed fundamentally the same, with technology applied to improve rather than replace them – particularly around sustainability and efficiency. And while embracing new technologies, they accept that some things will never be replaced by it – their handmade paper is still produced at Fabriano, for example, made in the same way since the 13th century and historically used by artists like Raffaello and Michelangelo.
Luxury fragrance house Penhaligon’s offers a useful example. Its packaging demonstrates how a carefully chosen paper – in this case, a bespoke paper in a shade designed exclusively for them, William’s Green – can create consistency and a distinctive physical experience across a range of products. It’s a reminder that even as digital production makes consistency easier to achieve, physical materials can deliver something digital cannot: a sense of authenticity and tactility that is integral to how a brand is experienced.
Two things can be true at once
There’s no longer a divide between crafts that identify as ‘analogue’ and those classed as ‘technical’. Where modern technology is shaping how we work and what we make, it can also highlight what we want to hold onto and treasure. So, rather than replacing paper, technology is raising its value, transforming it from an everyday product into a premium medium for experiences that feel worth holding onto.
Paper stock elevates creativity in a way that is intentional and considered. Ultimately, while a digital pixel is fleeting, the enduring weight of a beautifully printed object remains powerful – especially for brands that want to communicate true longevity and expertise.
Jayne Connell is strategy director and founder of Interstate Creative Partners.
Become a Design Week member for £4/month or £40/year
Already a member? Sign in.
Estudio EA