ZSL London Zoo – eco printed pop-up space

Earlier this year The Graphical Tree hosted a stand at the VM & Display Show in Islington. Our stand and graphics were produced using eco products and shared the possibilities of graphic production in an environmentally sound manner. As a result, and because of our eco offerings, we met ZSL London Zoo.

Over the course of the summer the zoo’s creative team engaged in a number of meetings with us to discuss a project they had coming up. This was with a view to produce graphics using some of the eco-friendly materials we had introduced them to previously at the trade show, and in a follow-up material sample pack delivered after the event.

The project in mind was a ZSL London Zoo pop-up space on London’s Carnaby St, called, ‘For People, For Wildlife’. This is an initiative to protect wildlife by supporting communities who live side-by-side with wild animals.

ZSL London Zoo team up with these communities to help them set up sustainable livelihoods – like dairies, ecotours, guesthouses and tailor shops. They help with start-up costs, train nature guides and develop other peaceful ways to live alongside wildlife.

With reliable income and their families’ future secure, people are empowered to protect the forest and its wildlife. Helping it to regrow and thrive.

You can read more about the charitable project here.

As part of the briefing process and subsequent meetings, we discussed a number of possible production options, all using as many environmentally friendly substrates and methods as possible.

These include PVC Free Blockout PET Permanent White Matt Vinyl mounted to 10mm Falcon Board – a board made from 95% recycled card and paper which is 100% recyclable. We used this to produce freestanding large animals including a cow, rhino, pangolin, tiger and a rather large elephant measuring 3.8m wide x 2.7m high.

The wall imagery was produced using Rafa Canvas, applied directly to the existing wall, and printed Falcon board. Rafa Canvas is PVC-free substrate and can be printed on using latex inks – an ink technology that is made using 60% water, making it a far greener option than solvent-based ink. And whereas solvent penetrates into medias, latex sits on top and doesn’t react in the same way, which is better for recyclability. Latex inks are also certified by both UL Ecologo and UL Greenguard Gold.

The resulting pop-up space, which we also installed, is both inviting and environmentally friendly, everything that it should be, especially for a project of this nature. Helping communities give back to nature, rather than being in fear of it, is a really important message for us all.

To find out more about our environmentaly friendly print and production options visit our eco page. Alternatively, if you have any specific questions or want to get in touch about a project, you can find details here. We’d be happy to share our knowledge with you and help get another sustainable, eco freindly set of graphics out into the wild.