Like Origami, Clothing Scraps turned into beautiful paper designs

Written by Moksh Juneja / 01 February 2009 / Read Moksh Juneja's latest blog entries.

Authored by Paul Lincoln 

Just outside of Beawar, India, Sethi Khatri uses previously discarded scraps from the manufacture of clothing to make the most beautiful paper objet d’art: bags, wine cases, envelopes, diaries, jewelry boxes, file racks, book marks and gift paper in every color and hue.  Some even have flowers and other exotica pressed into the paper.

The process is simple, instead of cutting down trees or using recycled paper, PG Handmade Paper, owned by Mr. Khatri, buys the scraps of material remaining from the manufacture of clothing.  This material is shredded and then soaked in water for three hours.  Organic dyes are added to the water for color.  The water is clean enough to be used for gardening when the process is finished.  At this point, PG can add flowers, to the mixture to make interesting patterns.  The pulp is spread on a screen and covered with a cotton cloth.  In a process called spreadation, the screen and pulp are then flipped over and spread on a slab.  500 of these sheets are then put in a hydrolic press that squeezes the water out of it.  The paper is then hung out to dry.  After cutting to size, PG then puts 30 sheets at a time between metal rollers to iron the paper flat.  Quality control then separates out any paper with defects.  An additional use of a glue screen can add raised glitter patterns, embossing or a leather look .  The paper is in its final form and is ready for the market or it can be transformed into all of the products listed above.  

I was struck by the fact that the factory had no particulate matter in the air nor smell of toxins or chemicals or that one often associates with the word factory.  It was a very pleasant environment.   PG Handmade Paper employs 30 people, produces 80 million sheets of paper per year and sells its products around the year.  In India, the paper sells for 5 Rupee per sheet.  In the US, such art will sell for several dollars per sheet.  PG paper adds incredible value to previously discarded waste and makes a fine business with a small footprint.