Pavyro

was born from love for crafting,

a taste for design and

desire for innovation.

The experience gained from the Papyrus Institute of Syracuse (started in 1975 with the aim of studying the process of manufacturing papyrus-paper  that was lost in 1061 AD in Egypt due to the extinction of the plant, and no longer handed down)  helped create this art prodigy.
In 1990 we were the first who started designing and manufacturing papyrus-made collections of furnishings, objects and gift for writing, without ever losing sight of the quality of the objects we created, which represent our art, culture, history and tradition.

The constant search for new products and the love for innovation resulted in the design of papyrus floors and coatings, using exclusively selected hand-knotted papyrus fibres.

Combining ancient techniques and using natural products, we have developed a unique floor and coating, hand-made entirely in Italy and crafted with cyperus papyrus plants. These are the same type of plants used by the ancient Egyptians to produce the famous papyrus paper and also sandals, mats, sails, ropes, baskets, boats and more.

The high cost of papyrus paper does not come only from the raw material, which is very rare and needs a special microclimate with pure water, but also from the highly specialised manufacturing technique and long producton time;

3000 B.C.
1400 B.C.
300 B.C.
23 B.C.
1061 A.D.
1781 A.D.
1797 A.D.
1962 A.D.
1975 A.D.

3000 B.C.

The invention of writing, in human communities, marks the passage from prehistory to history. In Egypt this moment was around 3000 B.C. and comes from the need, from the lack of money, to take note of the quantities of cereal supplies that were used and which couldn’t be done mentally, so writing was invented. At first, it is presumed, with a type of signs called hieroglyphics
Writing materials were wooden bars, leather worked into thin sheets, flattened rocks, walls and columns of buildings, , terracotta vases, ivory. The Egyptians, while perfectioning the stone writings, managed to create a light and flexible material, papyrus paper.

1400 B.C.

The manufacture of the paper is documented in a Theban tomb, which dates back to 1400 B.C.; in the wall it is portrayed a man who is sticking out from a boat, picks up the papyri, while another one ties them in bundle. On the shore a third man transports the bundle on the back to be delivered to a forth who works the stems sitting on a chair.

300 B.C.

In Sicily the papyrus seems that has been introduced in the III Century B.C. by Tolomeo Filadelfo II, as a present to Ierone II in sign of the good existing commercial relationships. It seems that in 250 B.C. in Syracuse someone manufactured papyrus paper, but of shoddy quality, not because the plants were different from that Egyptian ones, but because they didn’t use the Egyptian techniques.

23 B.C.

A description of the workmanship is furnished by Gaio Plinio II the old (23-79 B.C.). The stem was cut with a knife into thin strips which were set one close to the other on a table to form the shape of the sheet required; over this layer other strips were set in right angle as to the first ones; everything was damped with the muddy water of the Nile; then the layers were pressed and dried under the sunlight. Thus they obtained sheets of the desired dimension which were rolled up and then preserved.

1061 A.D.

In Egypt the production stopped in 1061 B.C., because of a prolonged drought of the Nile lasted seven years: the quantity of the water was reduced, the papyri disappeared, the factories failed and the manufacture methods of the paper were not any longer handed down.
Papyrus paper was used until the XI – XII centuries A.C. and was slowly substituted by parchment (perfected writing leather) in turn also substituted by common paper (derived from rags or wood-pulp) invented in China in the I century A.C., which was more economic and lighter and more suitable for the preparation of books. In Europe papyrus paper remains the most appreciated: the Vatican chancellery and the Royal French one used it up to the XI century, the Church of Ravenna up to the X one; S. Augustine apologized for writing upon parchment paper because he was deprived of papyrus paper.

1781 A.D.

In Syracuse the production begins in 1781 thanks to Saverio Landolina and it continues uninterruptedly up to our days. Today we produce papyrus paper following some of the methods used in the ancient times, in order to obtain soft and natural-coloured sheets.

1797 A.D.

Hieroglyphics were deciphered after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, that came to the light in 1798 during the Napoleon Expedition in Egypt; the stone reproduced the same text written in 196 B.C. In three different types of writing: hieroglyphics, demotic and Greek.

1962 A.D.

Paper making in Egypt appeared again only in 1962, but the paper produced is wood like and yellowish, however different from the best papyri of the Pharaohs age (3100/332 B.C.).

1975 A.D.

In Syracuse, where papyrus paper is produced since 1781, in our laboratories, this prodigy of techniques and art lives again today. Therefore the choice of the right plants, the use of their best part, the immunization treatment made only with natural salts and the appropriate care in handling the sheets during the various drying phases, make the difference between valuable writing paper and the emporetica one for commercial use. In the transparency of a sheet you will notice the weave created by the strips laid one upon another in orthogonal and the care put on the manufacturing.

THE PLANT

Papyrus is the name given both to the plant and to the paper. The plant (cyperus papyrus) takes root in earth and water. The stem is triangular in shape; it grows from 3 to 6 metres high and is about 10 centimetres wide. It is formed of long fibres from the base to the top and is covered by a thin and compact bark; it produces only one flower which looks like a big umbrella made of long and thin branches which end in ears. The colours strengthen the elegance of the plant; the small leaves at the base are green with a yellow tone, the stem has a shiny and intense emerald – green colour, the bud is green with yellow and copper – coloured tones, the trunk is canary yellow and the ears are reddish. The Cyperus papyrus should not be confused with the Cyperus Alternifolius, an inside plant with a round trunk which ends in an umbrella made of thin lancelet leaves.
The plant grew naturally in Syria, Palestine, Mesopotamia, along the Nile and the Niger.

Egyptians at first called it uaz, Greek called it Biblos, then Papyrus and in the end Chartès. The same terms can be found in Italian: biblioteca, papiro, carta; in German: papier, in English: paper; in French: papier. Ropes, containers, mats, boats, sails, light, sandals (the only footwear that Egyptian high priests were allowed to wear) were also manufactured; the juice was served as a drink and its ashes used as medicine.

The first documented news of papyrus production in Syracuse goes back to 1674; the plant was called pappera, pampera, parucca, pilucca; the ropes produced were used by fishermen and farmers; the locks embellished churches and streets during fiestas. Actually in the Ciane river the most extended colony of Papyrus plants in Europe can be found.