Fresh Project: Crane

Paper company Crane & Co. has launched a new swatchbook, Crane Paper, 100% Cotton: The Definitive Collection. No trees or wood fiber go into the production of this paper because is entirely made of cotton. The swatchbook itself is made from cotton paper as well, and was designed by a C&G Partners team led by Partner Emanuela Frigerio. (See the end of this post for another surprising fact about Crane paper and US money.)

Not only is the paper 100% cotton, but no cotton is even grown to make it. It all comes from fibers left over during industrial cotton processing. And because there’s no lignin in cotton, no dioxin is created as a by-product.

A closeup of the paper samples inside the swatchbook:

A few spreads from the book:

One more surprising fact: Crane doesn’t only provide all-cotton paper to printing businesses and consumers of stationery: since 1879, the U.S. Treasury Department has printed all U.S. currency on Crane 100% cotton paper. Have you ever had a dollar bill go through the washing machine? It comes out intact because it isn’t paper. (We can’t resist one last fact: you can even iron it.)