The Paper Foundation for House & Garden

Learning the value of the handmade approach at the Paper Foundation in Cumbria. Photography Andrew Montgomery.

Mark Cropper, the chairman of the family-run paper manufacturer James Cropper founded the Paper Foundation in 2016, with the intention to continue the local tradition of paper making that started in 1746. The hand made paper mill is located on a site a stones throw from its (very) big sister mill, however, marks a new epoch, since it aims to preserve the craft of making paper by hand and support a community of makers.

Chatting paper making, craft and conservation, Tom Frith-Powell is the master paper maker at the Foundation who creates exquisite sheets of handmade paper from a building that used to be a former cow shed on the 19th-century Ellergreen Estate in Burneside.