At the peak of Lockdown 2020, we decided to take on the challenge of re-wilding our disused industrial estate garden behind our office unit, being South facing we knew this would give us a great opportunity of growing fruit and vegetables. After three years of getting stuck in with our green fingers we all now have a thriving Wildlife garden, full of various birds, bees, insects and more recently wild rabbits and a hedgehog came in to visit.

Our Industrial estate garden has attracted lots of attention from many different organisations, and more recently we have had the pleasure of hosting the team from the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, We took them on the journey around the garden highlighting the parts we have developed and changed to include our new pond area and they especially loved our flower patches which has been grown from our paper made from wildflower seeds, recycled paper & cotton and showed them how we have changed the way we thought about how we can encourage the pollinators to enjoy our space, which includes planting certain vegetables, various fruit trees and to include an upcycled pallet for a compost heap.

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust gave us some great feedback following their visit and we are proud to have our efforts recognised by their organisation.

They wrote,

“A massive thank you to you and your lovely colleague, Mark, who showed us around the garden and print workshop. I can safely say that you blew us all away!

Your wildlife garden is a total surprise when coming in from the industrial estate and it is full of interest and colour.

Then the breadth and innovation of your print service , – a world I knew nothing about, but absolutely fascinating. It’s so inspiring to hear of all of the ways you are helping the environment.
– it’s wonderful to think that small businesses like yours are leading the way, not for profit but because it’s the right thing to do.”

The Norfolk Wildlife Trust has since come back to work with us in a new pilot scheme of rewilding other business industrial estate gardens on the North Norwich Estate.

Please watch this space …

In a world where the urgency of climate change cannot be overstated, it’s essential that we take meaningful steps towards a sustainable future. We are pleased to share that our founder, Sarah Smith was recently invited to attend a panel discussion on Business Climate Climate Stories hosted by Norwich Theatre at The Norwich Playhouse.

The event featured passionate local business owners taking part in panel discussions sharing their journeys towards reducing their carbon footprint and combating climate change. The event not only shed light on the critical impacts that businesses can have on our environment but also highlighted the innovative and impactful strategies these leaders are employing to make a difference.

The event was spearheaded by Asher Minns Executive Director at the Tyndall Centre of the University of East Anglia, where he guided the audience through three insightful panels featuring speakers from across the Norwich business landscape.

Our Founder Sarah sat on a panel with Fran Ellington from TBLA Ltd, Edward Reed from Cornwall Insight and Rebekah Hill at Saxon Air Ltd. The panels covered three key topics; Business, Future and People.

Sarah discussed where she is at now with Dynamic Certificates Online & Eco Flower Supplies and our current sustainability efforts, this included taking the audience on our journey of transforming our industrial estate unit space into a haven for wildlife and to encourage biodiversity in the area, as well as sustainability swaps that we have made and our plans for the future.

Dynamic have also invested into a new Cardboard shredding machine which has eliminated bubble wrap and instead of paper going into landfill we have used this material into upcycled paper pads.

Sarah Smith says:
It is time to act now, climate change is not going away, let’s stop talking and let’s start doing !

To find out more about our sustainability papers visit our website here.

eco-papers

It’s no secret that at both Dynamic Certificates Online and Eco Flower Supplies we love everything paper, recycling it and repurposing it anywhere we can!

Besides our usual paper talk and the amazing print productions we can provide, we rarely shout about the range of unique papers that we can transform into almost anything your business heart desires. You have probably heard of our flower-seeded paper, which is much-loved with florists, but you may be intrigued to know that we have papers, made with seaweed, coffee waste and even elephant poo!

This is where we introduce our new paper swatch which details our extensive range of unique papers, all designed to reduce waste wherever possible and provide interesting sustainable paper options to promote your business.

Our Managing Director is pleased to share her thoughts on our new paper swatch:

It has taking 35 years of paper knowledge to bring my very own upcycled and recycled paper swatch highlighting various papers made from the waste of the coffee husk, Elephant dung, post consumer waste and Confetti. A great way of engaging customers when handing over your new business card or leaflet, can you imagine the conversation, your leaflet is made out of elephant poo ??

Let the paper do the talking, what’s in the swatch?

Seaweed Paper:
Entirely natural, free from additives, can be recycled and it’s biodegradable
Contains: 30% Seaweed and 70% F.S.C Paper

Particles of Sunshine:
Made from 100% post-consumer waste, leaves beautiful tiny gold flecks in the card
Contains: 100% Post Consumer Waste.

Ellie Poo:
Handmade in the UK using recycled paper and elephant poo waste from Whipsnade Zoo
Contains: 95% Recycled Paper and 5% Ellie Poo

Explore the rest of our paper swatch and discover our other exciting papers here. eco-papers

We are delighted to announce that our sister company Dynamic Certificates Online and our team have recently been recognised and awarded the title of one of our fine city’s Top 3 Printing Companies by ThreeBestRated!

ThreeBestRated have said;
“Our business analyst team is impressed by the consistent high-quality service you provide in your area of business. They have thoroughly evaluated and updated your business based on our rigorous 50-Point Inspect”

Here are some of the key factors that contribute to winning an award for multiple times

You must demonstrate outstanding performance, quality or innovation.
The ability to adapt to changing circumstances
Customer satisfaction
Community Engagement
Industry Leadership

Our Managing Director, Sarah received the good news last week and gives her thoughts on what it means for the business to be recognised amongst the best in the Print industry for our city of Norwich.

I am so excited to be recognised for the 5th year running as one of Norwich’s Three’s Best Rated Printers, I love meeting new clients and taking time to understand how they envisage their end design looking once printed. It’s the highlight of my day when they come and see the finished results and the smile on their faces says it all.

Peatlands are precious which are home to rare and unusual plants, birds, and insects. Peat formation is made from decaying plants in soil that is waterlogged. The key component of peat is a moss called sphagnum, which forms multi coloured carpets across the landscape and breaks down very slowly under the waterlogged conditions.

For years many people did not understand the significance of Peat, so it was extracted for horticulture ( gardening and growing) but this is having a very negative impact on our whole eco system, and Scientists are encouraging us to stop using this precious soil.

Did you know from the end of 2024, peat compost sold in bags for us to use in our garden will be banned in England and in Wales.

So why should we all stop using Peat ?

Peatlands support a rare range of threatened species and cannot be found anywhere else in the world.

Our peatlands store more carbon than the whole of the forest of the UK France and Germany combined.

Peat is a preserver! The lack of Oxygen within peat slows down the process of decomposition.

When Peatlands are drained stored carbon is released into the atmosphere.

Sadly peatlands in the UK are amongst the most damaged in the world.

So what can we all do ?

Peat Free Purchasing – only ever purchase compost that is clearly labelled as “peat free”. If this is not visible on the bag of compost, then it is likely to contain peat.

Top Tips for gardening

Vegetable water is rich in nitrogen, why not try watering your plants with your leftover cooking water ?

Composts that contain wool are great for improving water retention.

An organic tomato feed can be used as a feed for both indoor and outdoor plants.

Why not recycled your teabags – tea is a great natural fertiliser, simply sprinkle the loose tea leaves around the base of your plants.

Don’t run water through your pots, this rinses away precious nutrients, try adding ice cubes and let them naturally melt slowly so no water runs out of the bottom.

Booking a stand at a wedding show or other exhibition is a great way to get your message across too many people. However, it is likely that the show will feature some of your competitors too. How do you make sure that your stand gets noticed?

The first impression the visitor gets is a hugely important one. Your stand needs to be visually stunning. Flowers are what you do, so your flowers must be perfect, of course. They need to be centre stage and impactful. Don’t rely on your folders with pictures of different bouquets and arrangements to get your message across. You need the real thing, in different styles: bright and vivid, cute and pretty, sustainable and natural.

However, you will need to frame your stand to create a space that is all about you. Printed banners and pop-ups will create an instant backdrop and are low cost these days. Business cards, printed on recycled or even flower seeded paper that grows, can make a lasting impression. They can be sourced via your printer or graphic designer: use your unique business branding and imagery to set the tone.

You’ll also need somewhere to hold more detailed conversations with your potential customers once they’re engaged, so a small table and a few chairs is a good idea. Don’t go for the large rectangular tables usually offered by exhibition venues: they are too big and look impersonal. Better to have a small round folding table – a garden table, for example.

Having a beautiful stand is only the first step in winning business at a show. What you do is even more important: I’ve seen so many show stands fail because the people staffing the stand are too passive. Sitting behind a table waiting for people to approach you is never going to succeed. You need to get out there at the front or even in the aisles, with a friendly smile and an inviting opening greeting. Make eye contact with people: most will respond positively – they are there for a reason.

Your opening gambit is important. It might be the offer of a glass of fizz (but remember that many will be drivers so supply non-alcoholic alternatives) or the chance to win something they value – ten table posies or a corsage for the mother of the bride. Be relaxed and chatty with them. The last thing they want is full-on sales patter so let them talk about themselves at first. When they’re comfortable, ask them if they have thought about what their flowers should be like – and then you can draw them in to a more detailed conversation.

You’ll need to have things to give to them to take away – so handouts and perhaps freebies. Your handouts should be specific to the market you are tackling, so all about weddings for a wedding show. You may well do funeral flowers and gift bouquets but that’s not what’s on the mind of the people at the show and will dilute your message.

Handouts are important. The quality of the paper on which they are printed as well as the design and colours used will all combine to deliver a message about you and the service you provide. It doesn’t have to be a multi-page brochure but should reinforce what you are saying to them and signpost them to your other marketing channels such as your website or social media pages. Maybe think about flower/greenery crib sheets – colour groups, seasonality, home-grown or imported, etc, for them to take away and read.

Freebies don’t have to be expensive – they are just a gesture that helps to make you and your stand memorable. A single flower with your business card attached or mini cupcakes decorated with

flowers, or pads of post-it notes overprinted with your details – people love pads! Printed usable postcards, featuring your work, are a nice idea too.

Having a presence at a wedding show is expensive, of course. Not only do you have to pay for your pitch on the day, but you also need a whole range of marketing materials to create the image and messages that best promote your business. However, you should see these as an investment in your business – a necessary expense that when used

There are so many distinctive design styles that you can use to make your project distinctive, whether in print or online. It can be difficult, however, to know exactly what style of design appeals to you personally, so we thought it would be useful to highlight two early 20th Century design styles: Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was the earlier of the two styles, appearing in the late 19th Century. It followed on from what was known as the Arts & Crafts Movement. Its key focus was the natural world, taking inspiration from plants and nature. The use of these natural elements was taken to a new level with long flowing lines, swirls and tendrils giving the shapes a stylised and interlocking look. Colours used were strong and vibrant, often with gold embellishments.

The characters depicted in Art Nouveau had soft lines, loose clothing, and flowing hair. Popular users of this style included Gustav Klimt and the Scottish artist Charles Mackintosh. This was also the era of Tiffany, who produced lamps and shades with colourful interlocking glass panels and designs.

The Art Nouveau movement lost popularity around 1910, as it began to be replaced by the new and very contrasting Art Deco era.

These days Art Nouveau designs are often used for invitations, greetings cards, gift wrap and many other decorative items. It provides an attractive basis for business design and print, with a soft-edged but boldly coloured style, making it particularly suitable for high-end products and services where luxury is the message to be conveyed.

Art Deco

Art Deco removed the natural influences of curves and embellishments and came from a world of straight lines, symmetry, geometric shapes, chrome, and steel. Shapes and forms were still exaggerated and elongated but used lines and crisp edges. This mirrored the new fashions of the time. The Great Gatsby movie summed up the style perfectly!

The Art Deco movement was all about being modern as the world accelerated. This was the time when futuristic machines like the car and aeroplane were taking over. However, the style also had classical influences such as Ancient Egypt.

By the 1940’s use of Art Deco was in decline for homes and fashion. However, in recent decades, it has made a strong comeback as a graphic design style, with a look that can now be described as timeless. Today many brands and printed projects incorporate elements of Art Deco due to its eye-catching style.

We find Art Deco is a hugely fashionable design style for invitations, programmes, and business events. The fonts are crisp yet decorative and the graphic elements are dramatic yet subtle. Use of Gold or Silver foil printing designs, especially on a dark background, are especially decadent and classically elegant ways to bring your project to life.

Do you know your pockets from your wallets? Your banker from your straight-cut? Most people take their envelopes for granted but your choice of envelope can make a huge difference to the way that your communication is handled by the recipient.

The envelope may be the first point of contact you have with the person concerned. A quality envelope immediately catches the eye and carries a subliminal message about the importance of its contents. A quality envelope in coloured card may have an even stronger impact and help to imprint your identity.

Let’s look at some basic envelope facts…

Size and Weight

Envelopes come in all shapes and sizes. There are a number of standard sizes to accommodate A4 sheets of paper unfolded or folded into two or three, which are the most commonly used for business purposes. There’s a bit of wriggle room for you to insert your communication so they have a size description with a different prefix: C4 for an unfolded sheet, C5 for folded in half (so comfortably accommodating A5 sized inserts), and DL for an A4 sheet folded into three.

If you want your mailing to stand out from the crowd on someone’s doormat, you can use a bespoke envelope of whatever size or shape takes your fancy.

You can use a range of different paper or card stock for your envelopes. Paper and card stock is measured in grams per square meter (gsm) – the higher the ratio, the stiffer the paper or card will be and the greater protection it will offer to the contents.

Texture and Finish

The envelope surface has its own tactile message to bring to the party. Most envelopes are smooth and matt but you can use textured paper (a linen paper, for example), or perhaps have a coating to achieve a glossy finish.

Opening and Filling

Your envelope can have its opening either on its shortest side – known as a wallet – or its longest side – known as a pocket. It can be flat folded or, if additional capacity is needed, it can have gusseted sides. The shape of the flap to close your envelope can vary too: a “banker” has a V-shaped flap often used for invitations and greetings cards, or it can have a straight-cut flap, most often used for business correspondence.

Sealing

The flap of your envelope can be gummed, so you have to moisten the glue strip for it to stick, or be set up to seal itself either by a self-seal strip that binds on contact, or by a “peel and seal” strip where a tape is pulled back to reveal a sticky strip.

Sustainability

Many businesses have an environmentally sound usage policy. This can be achieved by using recycled paper/card or materials that are endorsed by the Forest Certification scheme. If you use a window for your addressee details, you may want to consider an eco-friendly film composition such as corn starch.

Making Your Envelopes Unique

There are a number of ways that you can customise your envelopes to make them stand out from the crowd.

· Colour: a coloured envelope will stand out from all the other mail received in a delivery and will pique the interest of the recipient.

· Paper quality and texture: the weight and texture of the paper or card used for your envelope will give an impression of the importance of the message it contains.

· Shape: in theory, your envelope can be any shape you like (but there may be practical limitations for filling and sealing) so use bespoke shapes to attract attention.

· Overprinting: your envelope is your first opportunity to start to build brand awareness with your colours and logo, and to deliver key messages.

· Embossing and/or foiling: these specialist haptic treatments turn your simple mail delivery container into a Rolls Royce… They are perfect for envelopes to send out your invitations or for marketing communications aimed at high net worth individuals.

Direct mailing can be an expensive process, but it remains an important part of the marketing mix for many businesses – particularly those offering high-end goods and services. It’s vital to ensure that your envelope both enhances your message and improves the chance of it being read by the intended recipient.

We all know about the language and messages that flowers can bring: roses for love, lilies for sorrow, sunflowers for optimism and so on. The florist’s art is demonstrated by combining the colours, fragrances and textures to deliver a complex message of thoughtfulness and care from the giver to the recipient.

However, a bouquet or floral gift comprises more than the arrangement of beautiful flowers and foliage. Packaging and presentation are enormously important too. In this age of online gift flowers from Amazon, M&S and others, hands-on florists need to ensure that their offering shouts quality and individualism from the moment it is received.

The fact is that those who give and receive flowers usually care about the natural environment. The sustainability and mileage of the flowers in the bouquet will matter to most people. This gives the florist a unique opportunity to promote their services on an eco-platform. Using environmentally sustainable packaging and presentation products may provide the USP needed to differentiate the florist shop from the online magnates.

Paper and card have their own language and are as important to enhance beautiful flowers as eucalyptus or ivy. There’s a huge range of paper-based products that can be used. Boxes for arrangements are now commonplace for presenting an arrangement: the quality and texture of your card and the colours you use will become an integral part of the message being conveyed and set the tone of the arrangement: modern, rustic, classic or natural.

Eco Paper Flower Sleeves are a relatively new addition to the florist’s toolkit. Eco Flower Supplies are a part of Dynamic Certificates Online: we’ve been offering paper sleeves since 2018. They are made from UK-sourced die cut 90gsm Kraft paper which is recyclable, biodegradable and compostable – and they have a natural, soft look that can enhance any style of arrangement.

The important message here is that packaging and presentation should never be an afterthought for any business. In the world of floristry eco-friendly presentation products can set the independent apart from the heavyweight brands, build reputations and get the markets talking.

https://www.ecoflowersupplies.co.uk/

There is a perception that printing is dead… No-one sends letters, no-one has brochures – everything is online or in a pdf. But is that really the case for successful businesses?

The trouble with digital correspondence and marketing is that it is transitory. It lacks the permanence of something tangible that you hold in your hand, and there is a real risk that your important message will fail to make the desired impression.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating going back to snail-mail for ongoing written conversations. Email, WhatsApp and other digital platforms make our interactions fast and easy. They’re more formal than a phone call and provide the short-term record needed to move projects and processes forward. I’m not suggesting waiting for a choice of brochures to arrive by post before making purchasing decisions either: instant, easy information is what the Internet and digital communication is designed to deliver.

However, there are times when nothing can come close to the impact and message that a paper brochure or communication can provide. Its ability to make an impression on other senses simultaneously gives it an enormous marketing edge over its digital counterpart. Its message is not just visual, but also has undertones delivered through touch and smell. An emailed invitation inevitably has a casual, perhaps mass-market feel to it however nicely designed it may be, whereas a beautifully embossed or foil printed invitation card shouts the importance of the recipient and the perceived value of the occasion.

Consider the humble business card… It’s one of the first impressions a customer gets about you and all too often it fails to meet its potential in terms of message and impact. A well-designed card, beautifully printed on the right card stock will always say that you care about detail and quality.

There’s something rather wonderful about the feel of good traditional paper and card, about the depth or subtlety of colours available, and about the sensory impact of embossing, foiling and all the other haptic finishes on offer.

The other factor that will impact on the future of printed materials is the brain’s ability to hold information for more than a few seconds. Studies suggest that the reader will retain more of the message they have read in print than they have read on screen. Part of that is related to the spatial awareness we get from physical reading matter – the layout on the page and the position in the publication – and part may be inbuilt perceptions that somehow the printed page is more important. Whatever the reasons, the consensus appears to be that the printed word stays with the reader longer.

The print market has certainly changed over the last decade, but it absolutely isn’t less important. Specialist printing for important communications – whether on tissue paper, heavy card or anything in between – plays a fundamental role in delivering specific messages that require maximum impact and longevity.