Artisanal Paper Elaboration

Juan Barbé is a paper craftsman who has dedicated his career to preserving the artisanship of traditional papermaking methods. There's undoubtedly an air of mystery surrounding this ancient and obscure art form. With so few professionals in the industry today, Juan had to teach himself all the tricks of the trade.

He founded Eskulan studio in 1983, and since then, he has led a number of workshops all over the world in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes, teaching at La Facultad de Bellas Artes in Damascus, the Jordan National Museum in Amman, and in Tangier. He collaborated with La Fundación ArtSur in Nicaragua for several years, helping to optimize a workshop specialized in banana-fiber papermaking in Malacatoya and opening another workshop in Granada. He also took his talents to Mexico, collaborating at La Ceiba Gráfica and in Oaxaca.

In 2017, he published his own book, Las plantas y su papel: 102 recetas papeleras, detailing a variety of papermaking methods.

He continues to teach courses and lead workshops all over Spain, working with artists both locally and abroad, and he travels all over America and Asia every chance he gets, visiting different papermaking organizations and getting to know the local artisans and their workshops.