FT.com – Once touted as redundant, the most quotidian of materials is now a hot commodity again: “…Frith-Powell is using early-Victorian equipment to make paper in the same way it was made in the 1600s, but the Paper Foundation, based in a 19th-century country house in Cumbria’s Burneside, is not a historic enterprise. Launched five years ago by Mark Cropper, chair of bespoke and luxury paper mill James Cropper, it was born out of an aspiration to preserve the waning craft of making paper by hand. The mill is part of a broader craft rehabilitation project that will see an arts centre established in the manor next to the mill, housing an exhibition space, print studios, library and archive. They’re already producing paper for artists and conservationists, and have launched a collection of handmade paper products such as sketchbooks, watercolour pads and notecards. Paper hung out to dry in the Paper Foundation’s mill Paper hung out to dry in the Paper Foundation’s mill. Papermaking in Europe has been in decline for the past 100 years: where the continent used to boast thousands of mills, increased volumes and mechanisation have seen that number dwindle to fewer than 1,000. Of the mills making paper by hand, the Foundation is now one of only a handful worldwide, and one of two in the UK…”