Off the Deckle Edge: A Papermaking Journey Through India

Paper - what is it? Where does it come from? What is it made of? It is such an integral part of our lives that we never stop to think about it. Books, newspapers, letters, bank notes, toilet paper - scarcely a day goes by without it passing through our hands in some form or other.A paper-making journey through India leads to many different worlds, worlds which often remain untouched by time. Machines have scarcely left a shadow. And yet this world of hand paper-making is fast disappearing, fading in the face of a paperless future. Before it does, let us pause briefly to think about it, visit the simple villages which sometimes know no other craft, listen to the men and women who have for generations spent their lives making the looms, weaving the mats and treading the pulp to make the simple sheets of paper that we take so much for granted.