Madrid Travel
# 1 - August 02, 2009
- IN a burst of do-it-myself enthusiasm I marched into the Madrid paper store De Papel (Calle Justiniano 7; 34-91-308-0152) recently and bought some beautiful hand-painted paper
- “That kind of thing has happened before,” said Montse Buxó i Marsá, the Catalan artist who made the paper and whose principal clients are an international coterie of artisanal bookbinders who make their living dissecting her work. “I’ll sell several sheets to a binder who plans to cut them up for a specific project he’s working on, but when I come back a year later, there they are hanging on the wall in his office.”
- to step into De Papel and other papelerías is to step from the chaos and graffiti of the city streets into a world of carefully considered point size and cotton fiber content. Fine stationery, marbled binding papers and handmade wrapping papers reflect a degree of refinement in those who employ them while serving some basic everyday functions.
- There is no one else making papers like hers,” said María Cerezo of De Papel, where prices for Ms. Buxó’s works range from about 15 to 40 euros (about $21 to $57 at $1.43 to the euro) a sheet. They are also available at Raima (Calle Comtal 27; 34-93-317-4966) in Barcelona. Those interested in the not-for-cutting compositions can make an appointment to visit her studio in Barcelona’s lively Gracia neighborhood. Prices for these works can climb above 1,500 euros.
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