display
Felix Renker grabs a sheet of paper that is sliding by while the machine is running.
“Feel that it's still really hot,” says the managing director of the Zerkall Renker & Sons paper mill.
“The special thing about hand-made paper is the tapering, fibrous and soft edge.
You can feel it very well. ”The 1.5 meter wide production lines run 27 meters in one minute, which is a comparatively leisurely pace.
Modern paper machines are ten meters wide and reach 2000 meters per minute.
But hand-made paper is not an everyday product like newsprint.
At the end of the 35-meter-long system, an employee stacks the so-called output and checks the quality on a light table.
Customers of Zerkall hand-made paper do not tolerate the smallest stain.
The German paper industry is the most important in Europe.
With an annual production of almost 23 million tons, around 3000 different types of paper are manufactured.
According to the regional association, NRW is one of the most important locations; more than 7,000 people in around 30 companies produce paper, cardboard and cardboard here.
This includes large locations of international corporations as well as medium-sized and small, often family-run companies.
In the year ending, around 2.7 percent less was produced compared to 2019.
The so-called graphic papers, which also include hand-made paper, suffer particularly high losses.
"Here there will be declines in the clear double-digit range," estimates managing director Martin Drews from the regional association in Bonn.
The industry has been under pressure for a long time.
Digitization is also causing problems for manufacturers of fine papers such as Zerkall.
The company takes its name from the small town of Zerkall in the northern Eifel, where handmade paper has been produced under the Zerkall-Bütten trademark since 1920.
The original of the Basic Law was made out on Zerkall hand-made paper in 1949, as was the document on German unity in 1990.
display
This year the crisis hit with full force.
"Corona overwhelmed us from March," says Felix Renker, who runs the business together with his cousin Stefan Renker.
Because without large weddings, family celebrations and other social events and the associated invitations, you also need less handmade paper.
"Our warehouses were overfull and will now be slowly being dismantled before Christmas, also with the help of our long-term customers, who now prefer to order."
“That is why we decided to go into self-administration at the beginning of November,” says Renker.
This should also keep the economic damage to employees and customers low.
While business operations continue in full as part of self-administration, the owners and the trustee appointed by the court examine the reorganization options.
Possible partners and investors could be other paper manufacturers who do not have the handmade paper segment in their portfolio.
“It's also about the jobs and the location,” says Renker, who lives in Zerkall himself.
“But there must be changes, there will be changes.” During the heyday in the 1960s, up to 200 people were employed in Zerkall; now there are 19.
Handmade paper used to be scooped by hand from vats, hence the name.
"That was hard physical work, which was made easier around 1800 by the invention of the rotary and Fourdrinier machine," reports the industrial engineer during the tour.
Zerkall has been using the cylinder mold process for over a hundred years.
Cellulose fibers - in the past also made of cotton and rags, today mainly made of wood - are dissolved in hot water.
The brew, reminiscent of milk soup, is then filled into an open, elongated container with a slowly rotating round sieve.
The paper is produced when the water runs off through the screen and the fibers are deposited on the screen surface.
“The fibers stick together mechanically, turning them into paper.” The still moist and hot material is then pressed and rolled by machine, later dried, cut and shaped by hand.
display
The sheets falling out of the machine are currently being converted into DIN A6 sheets in the classic Christmas card format; one floor up, employees smooth, tear, fold, pack and send them to wholesalers.
They sell the paper to retailers, printed with Christmas greetings or congratulations.
In department stores, A4 sheets can be had for 80 to 90 cents, but hand-made paper is also cheaper in larger quantities.
Zerkall paper is also popular with artists; the art academies from Düsseldorf to Berlin are among the buyers.
But because of the many online lessons, there has recently been a drop in sales here too, says Renker.
In Einbeck in Lower Saxony there is a second German family business that produces traditional hand-made paper: Hahnemühle.
In contrast to Zerkall, only drawing paper is produced there, not writing paper.
Zerkall is the only German manufacturer in this area.
The question arises as to whether a cooperation with Hahnemühle would not make sense.
Renker does not want to comment on this.
display
There are still five handmade paper factories around the world, all of them based in Europe.
Recently there were several mergers there, the Italian Fila group took over the competition in France and England.
Renker warns that the increasing concentration on this limited market could also have an impact on prices.
Numerous pallets of handmade paper are waiting in the warehouse to be loaded onto trucks; in 20 minutes you can be in Düren on the autobahn, and in Cologne it is just under an hour.
One large batch is destined for Belgium and another for South Africa.
There were also a few large orders from Great Britain, probably because of Brexit.
"We have left our mark on all continents, our handmade paper has also been available in the USA since the 1920s."
The spacious company premises are idyllically located in the Kall valley.
There is room for more companies here, says Felix Renker.
“We also have fast internet here and fiber optics will soon be available, so there are all options.” The 59-year-old is confident that the hand-made paper will continue.
"We have a strong brand and a product with positive connotations, the interest is definitely there."
This text is from WELT AM SONNTAG. We will be happy to deliver them to your home on a regular basis.
Source: Welt am Sonntag