Making Products With Handmade Paper

Small hamlets called kagzipura, paper town, were established, one of which survives by the same name in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, where a Muslim community continues to make paper by hand even in 2018.

Handmade paper manufacturing establishments of different sizes are located in Sanganer, the biggest paper making centre in western India. Salim Kagzi, a 100% export-directed unit carrying on a family tradition that dates back to the end of the 16th century has a fascinating link to Mahatma Gandhi.

By the middle of the 19th century kagzi craft was dying because of imports of British factory-made paper. In 1938 Janab Allah Bux, a master paper craftsman, met Gandhi in despair. His son Salim, who now runs the unit, tells of how Gandhi swore henceforth to use only handmade paper and promoted it, along with his father and his work,at every opportunity. His son lovingly refers to him even now as Bapu, father, the affectionate name given to Gandhi by the country.

Today the family business is both flourishing and highly-respected as leaders in the trade.

After India gained Independence from British rule, Mahatma Gandhi vigorously promoted traditional village industries of which handmade paper making and khadi, hand-spun and hand-woven cloth, were of primary concern to him.

Apart from sustaining livelihoods, the purpose was to fight the domination of machine-made goods that harmed the environment and killed self-reliant local enterprises.Mahatma Gandhi’s friend and economic advisor J.C Kumarappa, India’s first Chartered Accountant, helped formulate his economic approach.

Today, the J. C. Kumarappa Research Institute near Sanganer in Rajasthan, has found nearly 40 different waste materials that can produce paper, including damaged currency notes.

On the wide wall at the entry gates of the Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute in Jaipur, Rajasthan, is an unmissable message in Hindi asking everyone to save trees by using handmade paper.

It is the only institute of its kind in Asia, established in 1994, researching the possibilities of using all kinds of alternate materials to make paper by hand.

Work at the KNHPI’s well-equipped laboratory extends to examining the techno-economic feasibility of each sample.

It assists in setting up pilot plants and conducts training, along with organising promotional programs and participating in major paper trade fairs.

After the papers are individually counted, they are stacked in batches of hundred sheets and pressed to be flattened.

Then, in another section of this vast open hall, a very long row of shelves is used to stack them colour-wise.

Some stacks have multi-coloured papers and others are sorted into batches specifically for purposes like bag or envelope making.

The fringed edges reveal vestiges of the content that went into forming the pulp – in this case, hosiery textile waste.

The colour range available in handmade paper can be made to vary according to the thickness and absorbency of the material that went into forming the pulp.

At one time, all railway tickets and government files in India were made of thick handmade paper.

Specific shades of handmade paper in green and shades of blue and beige have been sorted to be converted into carrier bags and exported against a special order which are generally booked at major international paper trade fairs or gift fairs in different countries.

Another part of the vast complex that houses all the processes of handmade paper making has separate sections where workers work with speed and deftness to make carrier bags of specific sizes, or envelopes and note pads.

Women workers, young, middle aged or elderly, sit at long tables at the Salim Kagzi handmade paper factory tying strings to carry the paper bags.

This is the last stage of the operation before they are stacked and packed for despatch.

The present proprietor’s grandfather met Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement to seek support for his dying skills. Gandhi, typically, declared he would henceforth only use handmade paper, and gave him space to work at his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad.

Today, the elegant showroom samples for export are examples of their success.

These elegant paper trays for office table tops were made according to specifications from Thailand.

An elegant showroom displays Salim Kagzi’s range of products, each made for a specific country, season, and some according to design instructions received from the client.

Sheets of decorative gift wrapping paper show the Indian paisley design.

A salesman at the showroom rearranges a variety of handmade paper samples ready for gift wrapping at Christmas.

Read more about handmade paper industry here:

-Research and Technology