Right away I began to participate in fairs and events, always invited by the organizers to demonstrate my craft. I also started to teach courses in schools and academies. Now I have a company and together with my partners we are an agency that employs eight people, helping, as well, to guarantee the future of a traditional craft that distinguishes Fabriano in the world. In 2014 I established the Accademia delle Arti Cartarie in Fabriano from my desire to spread the tradition of Fabriano paper. The combination of traditional techniques with innovative manufacturing systems and new technologies opens a panorama of great interest to all creative people. As The Academy of Paper Arts: L'Accademia delle Arti Cartarie sandro tiberi A young Sandro Tiberi working as a hand papermaker in the Miliani Papermill, holding a freshly pulled sheet. All photos courtesy of the author unless otherwise noted. winter 2016 - 27 a master papermaker for 31 years, I am interested in popularizing and promoting the culture, familiarity, and use of handmade paper. In the Academy, in addition to understanding the true nature of paper, artists and students have the opportunity to explore their creative potential in handmade paper. I offer technical and scientific training in addition to the practical and artistic. Aimed at those who want to immerse themselves in the tradition of Fabriano paper, our courses and workshops ultimately provide new ways of communicating in the paper arts. We pair basic techniques with powerful, new creative ones. The workshop is divided into two parts, one theoretical and one practical. There is a lot of curiosity on the part of the students and what emerges is that, despite the fact that paper takes part in our daily lives, there is not much awareness about the rich world of paper even among professional users. Course attendees discover a universe. Making a sheet of paper can be a bewitching experience: from a formless liquid one creates one's own work. Working with artists is fascinating because it breaks the constraints of the classical sheet and they can freely create and above all experiment with new techniques. Here, the making of paper is not just a production system but becomes an actual amplifier of the artist's creativity. In workshops we have conducted in the fine art academies of Venice, Bologna, and Rome, the experiences with teachers and students have been very interesting, and there is always an exchange and mutual enrichment. In these educational experiences, what makes me happy and proud is that it establishes a lasting relationship; after the first workshop, others follow. The students ask questions and experiment with a technical curiosity that they had not imagined possible. The fusion of classic printing techniques such as intaglio with hand papermaking techniques is beautiful. But also in the field of photography you can do very interesting things with handmade paper. If I think about my past, I am moved. My papermaking master was Ferruccio Riccioni whom I met during my stay in Cartiere Miliani and with whom I continued to work until his death. He is a person to whom I am very grateful for conveying to me the passion for this job! After having the valuable experience within the paper mill of Fabriano, organizing my first studio was quite an undertaking. Finding all the necessary machinery, equipment, and raw materials was not simple at all. But this prompted me to find alternatives and thus to create new methods and new types of papers. Then the research! I have never tired of seeking to learn and grow. This led me, over the years, to have a body of knowledge that now I can use successfully in the creation of new products, and can teach through my classes. I work in cooperation with other professionals, taking care of the part dedicated to paper while others cover subjects such as printmaking and photography. We teach courses offsite using our portable equipment for sheet forming up to A3 size (16.5 x 11.7 inches). An important segment of the Academy is designed for the disabled, creating projects geared toward the help, support, and recovery of people with different abilities, to express themselves through the arts and artistic craft. To create with their own hands, to undertake their work calmly and with passion, all this has great therapeutic power and is of much importance in any society that, now more than ever, is faced with a growing unease. In Europe, mental illness strikes, at any level, for more than thirty percent of the population, and is therefore an issue of critical importance that must be addressed. The Academy becomes a cultural point of interest during events both in Italy and abroad through the organization of live demonstrations of handmade paper, the creation of personalized novelties, and dedicated workshops. The academy is at once, a place of creativity, study, research, training, and a meeting point for continuous fusion between different art forms and synergies with other resources. A goal for the future: to be a comprehensive campus with the possibility of residence for the course par- Ferruccio Riccioni, Sandro Tiberi's maestro (papermaking mentor) from the Miliani Papermill, couching a sheet in Sandro's studio with a student. Photo: Lynn Sures, 2009. Sandro Tiberi offering a workshop for Japanese visitors to his academy, 2015. winter 2016 - 29 ticipants, with international reach, focusing on paper as well as all other related arts, and improving communication and marketing of art and creativity. Fundamental to this goal will be collaborations with universities, research centers, and foundations, as well as with other professionals. The Accademia delle Arti Cartiere has already launched a partnership with the Department of Physics of the University of Milan. With Professor Paolo Milani we have begun experiments on the use of nanotechnology coupled with our anti-counterfeiting paper. There is a growing interest in the scientific field to organize workshops that combine traditional craftsmanship with advanced scientific knowledge. Our first step will be a joint workshop with Professor Miliani to be held at the Museum of Science and Technology of Milan in October 2016. A memory that I would like to emphasize is my experience in Peru, Chimbote, where, in cooperation with a religious organization, I helped open a mill for the manufacture of handmade paper which employs young people who would otherwise have little chance of employment. I am glad that my craft can generate wealth for those less fortunate. I consider myself lucky, I do what I love. I have the ability to create and this makes me happy; it also brings interesting recognition. The NHK Japanese television station filmed a segment at my studio this year. I sense a growing interest in the world of handmade paper, and also in my work. Beyond the natural gratification, this gives me the hope that such a traditional craft, so important to us, has a bright future. Paper Samples: Stripes and Confusion sandro tiberi These two paper samples are examples of two types of papers, Stripes (left) and Confusion (right), produced by my studio. Each is manufactured by hand, using 100-percent hemp fiber on aluminum moulds stretched with synthetic mesh. I buy hemp pulp sheets from Spain, ready for the Hollander. The beating is very light, leaving the fibers almost intact and simply increasing the bonds between fibers to make durable paper. I size the pulp internally using AKD (alkyl ketene dimer). For couching the sheets I use highly absorbent synthetic felts which are made in Italy; they come in rolls and are cut to size as needed for our production. I press the post at 350 atmospheres or about 5,000 PSI. My hydraulic press was originally designed to press olives to extract their oil; I adapted it for the manufacture of handmade paper. I dry the paper with a flat drying machine, another adaption arrived at by modifying a heat-activated printing iron used for fabric. I can adjust it to an optimal pressure, temperature, and drying time to reproduce the ideal conditions to create identical paper surfaces. I emboss the paper during the pressing and the drying phases using three-dimensional drawings I have designed. Textures can also be created for a client's own project and customized as desired, for example, for use in packaging or as a book cover. These papers can be waterproofed and used in interior design for the creation of wall motifs or space dividers. I have designed prototypes of bags with specific treatments that make the papers feel like leather. This process opens up a lot of room for innovation in design products.
