Tree Free - Bamboo Paper

Our friends at the Favini paper mill in Italy pioneered the use of alternative fibres. In the 1990's Maggie Philbin on BBC Tomorrow's World (...do you remember that?) introduced the original Favini ecological paper Alga Carta and the mill has continued development of other eco-products over the last thirty years.

Tree Free has been setting the standards for papermaking with zero impact on forestry for more than twenty years. Now with an improved recipe and a refreshed range that includes a new 380 gsm weight ideal for tags, cards and packaging, Tree Free uses 75% Bamboo Fibres with 25% cotton linters. Both are renewable annual crops which yield high quality fibres giving a natural tactile finish to the paper and excellent printability. 

To complete the story of sustainability, Tree Free is recyclable, biodegradable and made using EKOenergy from a hydro electric power station. Tree Free carries the FSC™ certification, even though like the name implies it has no impact on forests.

It is available in two shades, Bamboo Natural and Bamboo Cream. If you would like one of these lovely new swatches, please email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

https://www.favini.com/gs/en/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.04.2022

Lolapaluza Wedding Stationery

Last week, I was thrilled to receive some superb pictures from Lolapaluza of our BOTANICA floral seed paper. Lolapaluza specialises in unique wedding stationery and having spotted our new range, purchased some BOTANICA to produce sample invitations to show at the forthcoming wedding shows this Autumn.

The samples are simply, but beautifully, hot foil blocked using gold foil...

I wrote about our new BOTANICA floral seed paper when we launched it on May Day this year HERE. The range is handmade for us exclusively in England by Two Rivers Paper, who are based at Pitt Mill in Somerset.

Great care has been taken in the hand papermaking process, using 100% cotton, without chemicals and dried naturally (only by air) meaning that the seeds remain viable and can germinate and grow. Below, you can see my efforts, grown on wet tissue on our window-sill.

...and my colleague Sarah Glennie has demonstrated her horticultural skills using compost in the image below - 4 weeks after planting:

My thanks to Linda at Lolapaluza for showing me the results of her tests and for planting the idea of this lovely new range into the minds of her clients...

https://lolapaluza.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/lolapaluza_stationery/

Posted by Justin Hobson 07.09.2020

May Day ...a preview of our new range

May Day was traditionally celebrated as a festival announcing the arrival of Spring and has since become a holiday, so what better day than to give you a sneak preview of our brand new springlike handmade paper range...

Here is the paper in the packets - the edge looks a bit rough ...that's because it is handmade and has a 'deckle edge' which is the natural edge of the paper.



Click on images to enlarge

As you can see from the images, the surface of the paper contains flower petals and looks wonderful. Aside from the stunning visual effect of the petals, the paper also contains flower seeds! Because great care has been taken in the making process, using 100% cotton, without chemicals and dried naturally only by air means that they will germinate and flower... 

Below is a detail image of the new paper...

Click on image to enlarge

The size of the paper is an imperial size called Royal, which in metric is 560mm x 760mm.

Given the current virus lockdown situation, there are no swatches available yet but more information will be available in the future, but if you want a sample (a very small sample) just email me: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 01.05.2020