Our range of beautiful patterned Italian papers are multi-purpose, printed with high lightfastness inks that offer an extraordinary sharpness of colour. The base paper is ecological, acid-free matt and 85gsm, suitable for all uses. Ideal for bookbinding, origami and for fine, elegant gift wrapping. Some of the intricate, colourful designs are from the archives of Remondini.
The Remondini printing house in Bassano, a small town near Venice, was founded in 1657 and due to their impressive publishing work became famous all over the world.
They produced prints, books and papers on a massive scale, marketing these paper commodities across Europe, America and parts of Asia. In the process the Remondini firm both benefited from and helped shape a growing, increasingly literate, audience for printed materials. By the 1770s, the firm employed close to 1,000 people, it had 18 moveable type presses and 24 chalcographic presses. The typical products were prayer books, popular prints, wallpapers and decorative book binding papers.
The function of their block-printed papers was to add colour and vibrancy, for example to poorly lit dwellings or mass market books. Bold designs were needed, but not necessarily detail. Less elaborate patterns, such as circles and stripes did not require such an experienced wood carver but were popular. In eighteenth-century Italy, the Remondini family printed sheets of motifs (flowers, animals, geometries), which could be cut out individually, pasted onto household objects and varnished for protection. Unlike firms that made high-quality prints for a small, wealthy audience, the Remondini firm utilized a business strategy of cheap production aimed at a large, middling audience.
By the mid-1850s, however, the Remondini struggled to stay in business. The demise of the Venetian Republic, half a century earlier, had brought about major political and societal shifts, and the firm eventually lost touch with the tastes of the changing middle class. Additionally, international printing firms provided stiff competition in an increasingly globalized marketplace. The firm closed its doors in 1861 and after 200 years of prodigious activity, the production lines were separated and sold off to various manufacturers. The dies for the decorative papers went from Bassano to Varese, giving rise to Varese paper, best known as “Carta Varese”.
Since 1957 in Bassano del Grappa, Grafiche Tassotti took over the heritage of the old Remondini printing house and continue the artisan tradition creating refined and exclusive products.
The Remondini decorative papers are created from the vast collection of original woodcuts preserved in the private family archives "Raccolta Remondini -Tassotti" and on public display since 1992 in Carteria Tassotti.