New Reed words now on sale in Waitrose

Selected Waitrose stores are now stocking a completely new word, created by yours truly.

Papura is the name I developed for a new brand of tissue paper, made almost entirely from 'bagasse', a by-product of sugar production. This left-over sugar cane would normally be dumped, but can instead be transformed into paper.

Not only that, but you don't have to bleach and disinfect it like normal recycled paper - a process that usually demands some pretty harsh chemicals.

This environmental quality, plus of course its lovely soft feel, makes it a purer sort of recycled tissue than most. Hence Papura.


I also wrote the copy for the packaging, designed by Carrow Design. We decided to create a statement about Papura's qualities that would sit facing out of the shelves for customers to scan.


And I don't think Peter Carrow will mind if I crow about the fact that the original idea for the logo also came from Reed Words.

Peter, of course, is a proper designer, and he took my initial thought about a sort of 'infinite loop' in the A and P of the name (which also looks rather like spools of paper), and made it actually work as an elegant piece of type. He had useful things to add to the copy too. Exactly the sort of unselfish writer/designer collaboration I am continually stamping my soapbox about.