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The first stage of work after receiving the printouts from the printing house is to put together the blocks that will constitute the interior of the notebook with its cover. Such a flat cover is first properly folded using a bookbinding block and then folded. Later, the cover and the printed block are joined with glue, and the edges of the folded notebook are cut to align them. After cutting the edges, paste all the ribbons that will be inside our classic.
The last, very important and most time-consuming stage is "backing", i.e. gluing the canvas to the back of our product. This process requires great precision and care, as well as time, because we have to wait until all the elements stick together and the whole thing dries. After drying, our product is ready.
Typically, assembling such a batch of one hundred "classic" series notebooks takes about a week.
PK: So the "classic" series is one of your most popular products, right?
Yes, this series of calendars has already become our bestseller, which is probably why we still exist. We called it "classic" because of its very minimalist, elegant look with a modern twist, which makes these calendars a timeless design. As I mentioned, these are calendars with a paper cover, the spine of which is covered with cloth.
Today it is a "classic" not only because of its reference to the classic design and elegance - it is also our "classic", because this year we will be producing its eighth edition.
PK: So is this the product you've been selling the longest?
Yes, the "classic" stays with us the longest. The name of this model is definitely appropriate to its success. We are happy that the calendar has a regular audience and its fans come back every year to buy it. I think this is the best recommendation and the greatest reward for us as its creators.
I must admit that its popularity is also a kind of trap. Sometimes we would like to slightly change and refresh something, but we feel afraid to make changes to this particular product so as not to disappoint its loyal customers.
PK: We talked about the process of creating your notebooks - what surprises your customers the most when they find out how Paper House products are created?
I think the most surprising thing for everyone is the fact that all these products are made in our store in Krakow - in a small room that is our workshop.
PK: What prospects do you see for the bookbinding profession?
It's hard for me to predict the future because our path is not based on innovation. As Papierniczni, we are not looking for novelties, we rather focus on slow development, consistent with the rhythm of our lives and observations taking place in the environment.
What I observe is that the love for paper is not dying out among people, so I think that this profession will still be needed. Of course, the characteristics of the profession itself have changed slightly because the demand has changed. Book repair shops have become rare, mainly because of the way books are produced today. Most of them are simply not worth repairing from a financial point of view. In this regard, it is difficult to predict what the future will bring.
PK: Have you noticed any changes over the ten years of your activity?
Yes, a lot has changed in many aspects.
Usually, the first customers of brands similar to Papierniczenia are people interested in design, people who move in such artistic and creative circles. This was also the case with us - when we started, our main recipients were people from the creative industry. They were the first to discover our newly created brand.
Now, after ten years on the market, we reach a wider audience and these are very different people - it is difficult to unify this group. We are visited by both people who write with a pen and those involved in graphic design, and there are also people who come mainly to buy a planner or calendar.
Could you tell us a little more about those beginnings?
Even before I moved to Krakow and opened my studio here, I managed to cooperate with a large, possibly the largest, chess manufacturer in Poland. Back then, I didn't create my own patterns yet. I carved chess pieces for this brand, but they were patterns previously designed by someone that I continued. Only after some time did I start designing and gradually introducing my own patterns and models and selling chess sets that were already created by me from start to finish.
PK: It's good to hear that your audience is growing and interest in your products is growing. Are these only customers from Poland or not only?
Our regular customers come mainly from Poland, although during the tourist season we also have foreign customers. However, from the very beginning of our activity, we have been cooperating with foreign stores that allow us to purchase our products also outside Poland.
PK: You mentioned that some of your audience are people who write with pens. Does writing with a pen require the use of paper with specific properties?
Yes, the choice of paper should take into account the tool we will use to write on it. In the case of a pen, the paper should have a balanced texture - it cannot be either too smooth or too rough. If the paper is too rough, the ink may spread in it, creating the so-called "spidery". On the other hand, a surface that is too smooth means that the paper does not absorb the ink and it may smear. The key is to find the perfect balance between roughness and smoothness to ensure comfortable writing.
PK: Do customers usually come to you knowing exactly what they are looking for, or are there also those who have no idea even about the properties of paper?
We sometimes have customers who come thinking that this is just a school and office store, a typical stationery store. Sometimes these visits are very short because visitors cannot find adhesive tape or glue here, but then we try to help by recommending other stores in the area. However, it sometimes happens that someone drops by by accident and gets completely lost among our notebooks and calendars, spending a lot of time in the store.
If we see that the customer does not quite know what he is looking for, we help him choose the right product that will meet his needs. We often explain the differences between types of pens and papers and talk about who the Papermakers are.
It usually ends with an interesting purchase, which sometimes becomes the beginning of entering the world of paper. We have had customers who, after purchasing in our store, decided that they were done with digital notes and went back to using paper and pencil - these are the moments when we feel that our mission is fulfilled.
In our store, people often find gifts for their loved ones - because all of these products are perfect gifts. We often advise such clients and together with them we look for suitable gifts. When it comes to buying gifts, a big advantage is the fact that the wide range of products we offer allows you to buy both small and more expensive gifts - for example, if you decide to buy a pen. Many of our current customers got to know us in such a way that they received one of our products as a gift and liked the gift so much that they simply wanted to buy something else - this is a really great feeling for us.
PK: You mentioned that your typical client has changed over the years. Have you also noticed major changes in the industry?
Yes, definitely. I have observed an increasing interest in the materials we offer, which has naturally contributed to the development of the industry and the emergence of greater competition on the market. When we started ten years ago, there were few such companies in Poland - we stood out with something fresh and new. In recent years, for example, development planners and notebooks based on psychological content supporting personal development have become very popular. Many new brands specializing in this type of products have been created. I think it's really great.
PK: How do you feel about having to compete for customers?
We have our own values and a range of our own products based on them, but we also sell competitors' products, so we are happy with the development of the entire industry. Thanks to this, the offer of items available in our store is also expanding and every customer can find something for themselves.
PK: Tell me, what are the values behind your products?
Above all, we celebrate paper in our products.
Paper is something special to us. We want paper and its color and texture to be the basic means of expression in our products. They are very minimalistic and usually combine beautiful paper with a pleasant-to-touch texture with a restrained graphic design that emphasizes its uniqueness. That is why the interiors of the calendars and notebooks we design have a subtle character, they are often transparent and do not attract the user's attention. This may seem a bit strange when you first hear about it, but we want user notes of our products to be the main eye-catching content - not our design.
PK: What do you pay attention to when choosing the right paper for your products?
It is very important to us what materials we use, so we devote a lot of time and attention to their selection.
Selecting the right paper is a key stage of the process for us. We are guided by both aesthetic considerations and sensual feelings. As I mentioned, the paper we use must have a pleasant texture.
We only use high-quality paper and choose only those with certificates, such as the FSC certificate. This gives us confidence that the raw material was obtained from well-managed forests. Another key issue is the fact that we do not coat the paper with foil, as most stationery manufacturers do. This means that the covers of our products retain a pleasant, light roughness to the touch, but this solution is also more environmentally friendly. It should be mentioned that this also means that the cover of such a product will collect traces of its use - it may become more dirty and these traces cannot be wiped off with a cloth. For us, however, it is something that adds character to the item and makes it even more unique.
If the customer is looking for an "armored calendar" that does not have such properties, we offer products from other manufacturers, which are available in our store.
PK: Do you have a motto that guides you?
We are Papermakers! [laughter]
PK: Keeping in mind the experience you have gained over the ten years of Papiernicznicze's existence, what advice can you give to people who want to turn their passion into a career?
I think everyone faces different challenges, but I remember that "making friends" with the procedures helped us a lot. It's good to organize your business and calculate how much it all costs. It's quite a pragmatic approach, but for us it really was the biggest game changer.
PK: At the end of our conversation, I would like to ask why, in your opinion, it is worth choosing craft products?
In our opinion, it is a unique feeling when you hold in your hands a product that was created as a result of the work of other hands - especially if the customer had the opportunity to meet the person who manufactured such a product or see a fragment of this process. In our case, products are created in a workshop separated only by a wall from the space visited by customers. We communicate this often and feel it creates a unique bond between us, the creators, and the customers who buy our products.
