Neenah recently partnered with Artifact Uprising to develop a premium, uncoated paper that would work with new digital foil technology. During this process, we got to know them a little better and had the opportunity to speak with them about their history, their mission, and the evolving trends in the photo space.
NEENAH PAPER: Tell us a little about the origins of Artifact Uprising. How long have you been in business and how have you evolved?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: The company was founded in 2012 with the mission to inspire people to “tell their stories in meaningful ways.” Our name “Artifact Uprising,” reflects our commitment to creating meaningful artifacts from digital images with the idea that the things we create should have a sense of purpose and significance. Tangible photo sharing is the heart of our business, and we strive to create joy. As the world has gone digital, we help people make permanence of what matters most.
Since our founding, our product lines have expanded from books to include a wide range of photo-related products; everything from wedding albums and baby books to calendars and holiday cards, and more. This expansion allows customers to create a broader variety of personalized photo products that tell their stories, their way.
NEENAH: When it comes to photo greeting cards, the trend seems to have shifted to uncoated paper. What would you say is the biggest driver of that trend?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: Uncoated paper has a natural, tactile quality that is very appealing. Paired with the rich, four-color reproduction now attainable on uncoated paper, there’s a warmth and beauty to the final product that just feels more personal than traditional coated paper. It truly stands apart.
NEENAH: How does paper affect the way a card is perceived?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: The physical touch of the paper plays a pivotal role in shaping the perception of quality. During the holidays when you are receiving loads of holiday cards, catalogs, and other things in the mail, our customers want to stand out and make an impression. They want to represent their family or year in review in the best way possible. Having a nice, heavy-weight, uncoated paper with the customer’s chosen photo(s) and a glimmer of custom foil creates a pause with the recipient. It really helps the card stand out from the ordinary.
NEENAH: What are the most important aspects of the paper, from your perspective?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: For us, it’s all about quality, runnability, and customer satisfaction. We prefer an uncoated surface that is premium and elegant which will make the photos look great. Another key factor we look for in our paper products is digital compatibility, allowing us to offer the highest level of personalization. A bonus when using uncoated paper, especially for stationary or photo cards, is that it’s writable so customers can add their own handwritten notes.
NEENAH: We are crushing on your new 2023 Holiday designs! The digital foil looks amazing! This is truly innovative on uncoated paper. What was entailed in getting this to work?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: We started this journey over a year ago to find a premium, quality uncoated paper that would allow for foil customization. Everything we were sampling and seeing across the industry was printing on glossy paper, an aesthetic that Artifact Uprising stays away from. Our design-forward mindset really put us on a path of figuring out how we could make this happen and stay within our own design eye, and Neenah helped by creating a unique product that fits this need. We strive to continually provide new products and features that surprise and delight our customers, and this paper is a big part of that!
NEENAH: What are the advantages of digital foil vs. traditional foil in your space?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: The biggest advantage is being able to offer the customer an additional way to customize and enhance their cards. In order to provide relatively quick production on a time-sensitive holiday card, we previously only had the option to use static traditional heat-pressed foil to allow for batching. Digital foil allows a customer to bring an elevated effect to their card by including their own personalization in beautiful foil.
NEENAH: Any other comments about the paper, digital foil, process, or 2023 offering?
ARTIFACT UPRISING: We are excited to see how this new offering resonates with our customers this holiday season. We believe this additional level of quality and personalization is going to take our holiday card line to the next level. Thank you to Neenah for allowing us to partner and innovate with them.