The Transporting World of Florentine
Artisan Paper Marbling by Jenna Lo Bianco | Photography by Giorgia Maselli
T
aking the journal from my hands, Maria Gentile pulls back the covers and selects a single sheet of paper from the binding. Standing tall, she holds the paper to the warm light from the ornate glass sconce. As if by magic, the form of a papyrus flower suddenly appears, deeply engrained in the rich fibres of the paper. Unseen by the naked eye, hiding quietly and confidently between the pages of this intricately decorated marbled journal, lies a filigrana, a watermark of quality and traditions old. In that moment I fall in love. On a mission to answer the question, “What place does artisan paper marbling have in today’s technologically driven society?”, I find myself at an odd juncture. With my laptop beside me, and my smart phone in hand, I laugh at the clash of simultaneously existing worlds. Sitting with Romina Beltrame, owner of Il Papiro Melbourne, and Ma-
66 BUSINESS & TRADE
ria Gentile, her long-term colleague and dear friend, I am no longer in a store on Degraves Street, one of Melbourne’s oldest and most iconic streets. I am thousands of kilometres away in Florence, many centuries earlier. Paper marbling is an art once reserved for decorating the end pages of books - books, which were rare and only for the use of noble families and Kings. It is an art that is still alive, and very much sought after in Melbourne, of all places, explains Romina. Not limited to paper, marbling can also be applied to leather, silk and ceramics. To my right sits a bagno (bath) used in the marbling of paper following artisan techniques, learned from Il Papiro “Masters” in Florence. The bagno is filled with a secret solution which Maria has been carefully tending to, as we chat in the quiet store hours before opening. Like an alchemist, Maria begins mixing paints in small glass jars, swirling
Segmento Issue XXII • March-May 2021
