From purely made by hand...

Paper bore the characteristics of being worked by hand until the beginning of industrialisation. Up to this time paper was produced, sheet by sheet,by hand. The coutcher stacks the sheets alternately with felt and puts them into the press. After the paper has been dried, the surface must be brushed and smoothed out, before it can be used for writing.

...to mechanical production

The fundamental change was brought about by the French inventor Nicholas-Louis Robert, who built the first fourdrinier machine and so pioneered the epoch of industrial paper production. (Fourdrinier – a machine for making paper in continious sheets by draining the web of paper on an endless wire screen). Within a few decades, what was once a tradition of handwork changed into a modern industry.

Changing invironment The role of paper as a unique material for writing, drawing, painting and printing is no beeing changed by the constant development of new electronic media. Paper has become a throwaway product in our society (Sorce: Dieter Freyer – Kleine Papiergeschichte).

The white art
It is the aim of HOBL+SOHN to preserve the tradition and production of exclusive handmade paper and to develop it further. Our company produces each sheet of paper by hand, even today