Vilaseco, in collaboration with Manchea, is carrying out research into the use of flax in the manufacture of paper.

Flax is a natural, biodegradable, recyclable and sustainable fibre. Although it is more common to use other fibres, such as cotton, flax can be used to make quality paper, especially for fine arts, as paper made from this material is usually flexible and translucent, with high durability.

Usually what is used for the paper is the tow, that rougher part of the flax that remains after it has been scrubbed. However, for this project, we wanted to try to get the most out of the linen by using the flax virtually intact, preserving the outer layer that covers the plant.

The result of this process was a fairly thick paper, where the fragments of the flax straw are visible and golden in colour.