As modern paper mills displaced most of the artisans who created hand-crafted paper, most of today’s paper samples lack the softness and rich texture of paper made 100 years ago. While today’s mills produce papers of very high uniform quality and “whiteness” (i.e. free of impurities), some of the intimacy of paper has been lost in the process. Fortunately, there are several companies in Europe who still produce consistent high quality papers with an “old world” look.
These textured papers make beautiful wedding invitations and personal correspondence cards. Their rich texture coupled with their receptivity to engraving and letterpress printing processes, can, in the hands of a skilled craftsman, create stationery of unsurpassed beauty.
Nevertheless, textured paper and papers with a laid-finish are generally not appropriate for business correspondence. Soft papers tend to pick up ink-jet and laser printer inks easily smudge or distort images. We generally recommend that in choosing your business stationery, you weigh carefully the paper texture trade-offs in making sure that you get consistently high quality output based on your office printing methods.