Birch bark has been used like paper around the world for thousands of yearsEver since people have been writing down their thoughts, they have been looking for ways and means of exchanging them and preserving them for posterity. The paper we know today was invented quite late. Until then, many materials had already been used for writing: Images carved in stone or painted on rocks are probably the oldest cultural memory carriers known to us today. In ancient Egypt, clay was used alongside stone, as were papyrus, leather and linen scrolls.
As birch bark shares many of the properties of paper, it is still often used for such purposes today: In addition to its flexible and light, thin surface, birch bark can be written on with ink or India ink, and foil and blind embossing can be embossed into it. sagaan dared to try something new in 2013 and proved that birch bark can also be wonderfully printed on.
India: Birch bark determined the development of writing
Before most texts were realised on liquid crystal screens without material contact, the writing medium still played a major role. The material was so important that it determined the form of writing. The further developments of the Brahmi script in South India, for example, into the Sinhala and Tamil scripts, appear more curly and round. In North India, the Devanagari script, in which Hindi and often also classical Sanskrit are written, was developed.
In the mountainous regions of northern India, birch leather was used for writing. The bark of the Himalayan birch (Betula utilis), which is widespread there, is still used today in India and Nepal for writing mantras. This is where the script developed, which stands out with its horizontal and vertical strokes and characteristic top line: these characters could be easily carved into birch bark. The palm leaves used in the south would have been destroyed by the hard pen, which is why the round script developed there.
Russia: 1,000-year-old love text messages: carved on birch bark
Even further north, birch bark is an important document from times gone by: It was precisely non-church texts that were written on birch bark in Veliky Novgorod and bear witness to a lively everyday life in which intrigue, petty trade and love affairs characterised everyday life. The more than 1,000 short messages on birch bark sometimes read like text messages from prehistoric times, in which lovers arranged to meet, errands were planned and bills were settled.
Birch bark: One of 600 papers
In 2012, the Publisher Classical China with a special request to us: For the They ordered wafer-thin layers of birch bark for the collector's and manufactory edition of their paper primer published in spring 2013, which is composed of dozens of layers like an onion skin. In addition to the birch bark, which sometimes looks like leather, there will be a sample collection with 600 other papers and similar materials, plus specialised articles, chronological tables, glossaries and a bibliography.
Birch bark was also frequently used in less pleasant situations. used as paperMany field postcards from the First and Second World Wars were scribbled on the bark of the birch tree and sent home - probably due to a lack of other writing utensils.
Music becomes print: records as embossing stamps
We have already made many surprising discoveries in our endeavour to constantly place this timeless material in a new context. Our offer to emboss and stamp not only in birch bark, as is often done in Russia today, is unique. We often heat up old records and press them into clichés that can be used to emboss images, texts and logos into birch bark, e.g. in bread tins and storage containers.
sagaan printed and embossed birch bark
We are the only pioneers in the world to have worked with our partners, the Parnassia pharmacy in Vättisin Switzerland, started to print birch bark as well. The Parnassia office, which has a Monotype lead foundry, a typesetting shop and, of course, an embossing press and hand printing press, can process our birch bark to a high standard of craftsmanship and precision to produce unique business cards, elegant labels or bookmarks with poems. The material that protects the birch is so valuable that it can be used in the entire book printing industry: The cover of her new book full of legends is also bound with the white cover of the birch.
If you are looking for a special print on an unforgettable material, printing on birch bark is the perfect choice! Embossing, e.g. blind embossing of the logo, enhances the three-dimensional effect of the bark and turns the printed matter into a visual and tactile material experience!
The experienced and enthusiastic employees of sagaan and the print shop are happy to accompany the artistic creation process and, as we print and emboss by hand, we can supply even the smallest print runs.
We look forward to hearing from you!