Japanese knotweed

Notweed Paper

The primary ingredient for 'Notweed Paper' is the Japanese knotweed plant.

Seeing how widespread Japanese Knotweed is on a global scale, we could rename the plant, the ‘globetrotter’. The Japanese knotweed is prone to grow over degraded areas while its pervasiveness causes issues for residents who discover the plan on their properties. People are unaware of the plant’s useful properties. It’s these undesirable areas that the creators of the Notweed Paper band gather twice a year and invites their supporters and friends to join them in urban foraging. They then take their harvest to the nearby paper mill where the Japanese knotweed replaces some of the wood pulp used in paper production. In Slovenia, wood pulp is exclusively imported. Notweed Paper has already gathered supporters among environmentally conscious individuals and organisations that understand the importance and the breakthrough of this eco-innovation.

Due to its particular composition, Notweed Paper prides itself on a much richer texture than other organic papers, while its colour shades can vary. No bleaches are used during paper production. It has a pleasant, velvety feel and stands out for its haptic characteristics. It is currently available in two paper weights: 130 and 250 grams. These are suitable for printing business cards, cards, posters, graphics, flyers or certificates, just to name a few. It performs best in contrast to colour printing, letterpress printing, as well as digital and offset printing.

Making process

To make Notweed Paper, designers at Trajna Collective collect dry Japanese knotweed biomass in early spring, they harvest the plant in a specific location in Ljubljana, where Japanese knotweed is abundant. When the biomass is collected, they shred it into fine pieces. To purify the fibres, the stems need to be cooked with caustic soda; they are then beaten down in a paper mill. This is how the paper pulp is produced. The golden mixture is then moved to a machine that transforms it into paper rolls. Because they work with old instruments, the paper they produce always varies in shade and quality.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.