Expensive paper

Expensive Paper

Over the years, paper has gone through a whole narrative. Since its creation, it has been an almost invaluable resource; it has stopped wars and preserved knowledge; it has freed nations and delimited lands. With its beginnings in China, its expansion to Japan, all of Central Asia and later its arrival in Arab manufacturers, the history of this element is not without exciting moments: shortage of materials, research of substitutes, invention of new chemical processes.

Today, although paper is no longer as valuable a resource as in ancient times, when scribes couldn’t afford to waste even a single centimeter of a sheet, we still pay homage to it in bills, contracts, checks, titles. Despite the fact that the digital world is gaining more and more ground, paper continues to be a key part of our daily lives.

And just as paper has value in itself, it can also contain value on its faces. With our new editorial, Expensive Paper, we ask ourselves “what is the value of this thing?” There are several possible answers: what is your sheet made of? What else does it include? Perhaps in your hands you have a napkin signed by a singer, or the unknown score by Mozart; a sketch of Basquiat or an actress’s lipstick kiss. If so, your paper may be invaluable.

A photocopier. A camera. Jewelry. It’s our turn to add value to this material, almost as old as history itself.