The fountain pen dances; the printing press prints.
Manual or mechanical, they personify perfection with movements that hypnotize.
The subtlety of the hand
the energy of the machine
though the playing field is the same
Paper is the most delicate and resistant base invented
to withhold the software of humanity
Thoughts, ideas, emotions, languages created
transformed into symbols and then entrusted to a sheet of paper
A technology that was founded in China
and following the caravan routes of times past
arrives among the Arabs to then finally land in Italy
Its journey ends aptly at the foothills
of the Marches Apennines
in a city along the riverbanks of the Giano river
where the fuel of the medieval industry abounds
the Water!!
The city is Fabriano
here the relationship between water and technology is a quotidian matter
in the town square
was constructed by the municipal council
a monument symbolizing this connection to water...
it is the Sturinalto fountain
A vertical jet of water spraying upwards
reaching a spectacular height for the period
which functions as a tangible also true measure of wealth and power
The first known document that mentions
paper from Fabriano is dated 1264
At the time the hammer mill process
as such were industrial plants referred to, during the Middle Ages
was a standardized procedure
but not yet perfected
It is the ingenuity of the Fabriano artisans
with their triplet of innovations
that will mark the new era of paper
The paper process begins with rags
that provide the vegetable fibres (linen, hemp, cotton)
White rags, uncoloured, shredded into small pieces
and then left to macerate in water
The procedure thus, is nothing new!
However the Fabriano master papermakers
at this point of the process introduce the first innovation
the multiple Hammer mill
The force of running water moves the mill wheel
which in turn actions the huge wooden hammers
with a beating motion that reduces the rags to mulch
forming the paper pulp
for the successive step in the process
This concept of mechanization and production line
is a few centuries ahead
of the industrial revolution
The hammer mill on its own
carries out the work of more persons
working in a continuous cycle
increasing production and lowering costs
Following the process in the hammer mill
the paper pulp is now ready for the successive phase
which will transform the pulp into a sheet of paper
The system is quite simple, but requires a good eye
manual rhythm and dexterity
The master papermaker dips his paper mould
(metal frame and deckle)
within the paper pulp
to "fish" the correct portion of pulp that is
then evenly distributed on the surface
The manual operation is a sign of elevated craftsmanship
it is in essence the birth of the future sheet of paper
The action may seem simple and repetitive
however it requires absolute precision
that is learnt via an apprenticeship period
of at least six to seven years
It is a procedure with choreographic timing
in fact it is a "pas de deux"
that includes an assistant
as soon as the sheet is formed on the paper mould
it is then 'transferred' onto a pile of felts
where the excess water begins to drain from the sheet
This being part of the process which will be decisive
in the pressing machine phase
At this point, following the press, the sheet is wet just like
a cloth taken from a spin cycle on a washing machine
and just like the cloth, it is then hung to dry
on a drying rack until it is completely air dried
Genius is in the details:
it is the sheet itself, with its weight, which allows the peg to hold it
without exerting pressure (the opposite of which occurs with the normal clothesline peg):
hence the sheet of paper will show no peg mark
Once the sheet is dry, its surface is rough, crinkly
and above all sensitive to bacteria
This leads us to the second innovation from the Fabriano papermakers
Sizing!!
The sheets are rendered impervious
by full immersion then absorbing a heated gelatine
obtained by "boiling" tannery discards
At this point the finishing process takes place
each single sheet is smoothed using a hand "calender"
Finally, as in every production chain,
the weight is checked to respect accepted paper standards
This is known as the 'grammage' checking process
After having eliminated the defective sheets
the product is ready to be shipped to the marketplaces
Then, how can a sheet of paper made in Fabriano be recognized
from a sheet of paper that is not made in Fabriano?
The answer lies in the third great innovation
by the Fabriano papermakers
a type of medieval "microchip"
hidden in the thickness of the sheet itself
the "Watermark"!
Let us now take a step backwards in time…
over the mould surface is used to sew on a very fine and flexible copper thread
which being slightly raised means that a minor quantity of pulp deposits on it
as compared to the pulp on the rest of the mould surface
The flexibility of the wire allows it to be shaped
into symbols and varied designs:
each master papermaker created their own 'mark'
thereby each sheet of paper acquired what many centuries later
will be referred to as the "traceability"
The cleverness of this system is appraised even more
so if we think that this "trade mark"
is not just attached to the final product as a label
but is actually inborn within the production process
This is such an effective method
that it is still used nowadays
to identify banknotes
the Fabriano paper mill currently supplies banknotes
for the Italian state – known as the 'Poligrafico dello Stato'
Yet even the watermark evolved over time
Subsequent to the first type "chiaro" (light watermark)
is the "chiaroscuro" (light and shade watermark).
This latter method is used to create the portraits found in banknotes
those portraits that appear as if drawn by a painter
It is an amazing technique
a white sheet that when held against a light source
reveals a perfect image
There remain only two people worldwide
that are still able to accomplish the 'chiaroscuro' technique by hand
two distinctive artists in Fabriano
Franco Librari and his daughter Annarita
Now let us leave the world of art and return to technology
that is paper, where we left off talking about the quality check
Paper is a technology which in its turn is the instrument of another
Writing!!
From the calligraphy pen to the calligrapher and the scribe
whom had the monopoly of reproducing texts
we move into the 1400's in a world of mechanical printers
that is able to multiply the circulation of texts
The arrival of the Gutenberg onwards
marks the printing revolution
Especially for typographers and type creators
The "pocket" books are the invention
of a Venetian typographer-bookseller
Aldo Manuzio
Even the most important type characters
were created by Italians
a name representing many: that of Giambattista Bodoni
Both Manuzio and Bodoni used paper from Fabriano
Every generation brought with it change
and new requirements
hence new machinery
In the 1800's, to print advertisement pamphlets and political manifests,
this cylinder printer machine
was the topmost printer known
The same period sees the German made
'torchio a barre di torsione in ghisa' press in cast-iron
Perfect for printing single sheets
including business letterheads and business cards
is the so called 'pedal press'
operated by using a pedal with a flat-inked plate
The successive larger printers were inspired by
the advancement of technology during the era
the locomotive
And just like a locomotive
they were always superior and faster
specifically for printing newspapers
was created the LINOTYPE printer (literally means: "line of characters")
it was technically known as the machine
for the automatic composition of typography in alloy lead
because every line of characters is fused in the metal
and after having been impressed on paper
goes back into the crucible to be fused again
This is a model from 1897
built in England
the first to arrive in Italy
It was operated until 1956
at "Il Tempo", a newspaper printed in Rome
The world of printing is in continuous evolution
for example in the 1980's Linotype
is replaced with photo-composition
but in one way or another it all comes back down
to its landing site – that is – on a sheet of paper
Nowadays if it can be said that the production method
has become industrialized
then the journey that unfolds in the Fabriano Museum
is in itself a history book
of the technique, of the art, of the style
but above all of a way of thinking!
And 'the transmission of thought, in fact,
is the engine of this whole adventure:
is not a coincidence if books and humanity
as said the poet Paul Valéry
have exactly the same enemies
"the fire, moisture, time ... and its contents."
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