Cohoes, NY — In October 2021, Mohawk Fine Papers, Inc., North America’s largest privately owned manufacturer of fine papers and envelopes, introduced Paper With a Plan: A new attribute-driven approach to specifying paper. Mohawk refined and reorganized its paper portfolio into 5 distinct Collections that help make choosing paper by its properties and attributes easier. Mohawk’s paper grades are now grouped into the Beautiful, Sustainable, Expressive, Elevated, and Practical Collections.

Mohawk’s Sustainable Collection provides a powerful opportunity to add substance to sustainable storytelling. From hemp stalks to recycled cotton fiber, to the highest levels of PCW fiber and environmental certifications, these papers’ origin story is evident in every sheet.

Mohawk recognizes that sustainability has never been more important to brand storytelling. As sustainability stories have become more sophisticated, so have the material inputs used that drive their narratives.

Experience Mohawk’s Sustainable papers as they were intended with the release of the “The Material is the Message” inspiration piece.

Mohawk Sustainable Collection: The Material is the Message
In May of 2022, Mohawk launched a new series of inspiration pieces to inspire and educate the design community. The new design series is a nod to Mohawk’s renowned Maker Quarterly’s approach to storytelling centered around a singular idea or concept. In the first in this series, "Make a Memory," tells the story of Lost Art Salon, a San Francisco-based gallery specializing in the rediscovery of historically significant artists who have been lost to time.

The second edition to this series is brought to us by the Sustainable Collection. “The Material is the Message” follows a familiar 6” x 9” format but is made using 4 distinct papers from Mohawk’s Sustainable Collection and includes a die cut container which houses 6 unique cards. Each card tells the story of a different installation, dwelling, sculpture, object, or other artifact that is created using alternative materials or methods.

“These stories demonstrate what is possible across disciplines and mediums when a maker uses more sustainable, upcycled or uniquely innovative material inputs to hone their craft and push the boundaries of what is possible to make with raw and post-consumer waste,” said Melissa Stevens, Chief Revenue Officer at Mohawk. “We hope that by sharing these stories, we inspire makers of all kinds to explore a more environmental approach to their craft just as we have done with our Sustainable collection of papers made with post-consumer waste and alternative fibers, such as hemp.”

CONTAINER

The container is printed on Mohawk Renewal Hemp, Rough, Flower, 120C, demonstrating the folding and constructive properties of sustainable fine paper. Yellow foil text pops against the green of the Flower color paper which reflects the natural material input (hemp) the sheet is made of. The cards that await within the container peek through a prominent die cut on the cover whose shape represents the Sustainable Collection.

CARDS

Card #1 – LCA Architetti “Casa Quattro”
Paper: Mohawk Loop, Antique Vellum, Milkweed, 110DTC
Ink and process: 4 color process, match brown, dense black
“The House of Wood, Straw and Cork” (or “Casa Quattro”) designed by LCA Architetti is a residence in Italy distinguished by its textured cork cladding. The home is built from prefabricated timber and insulated with the straw local rice farmers usually discard.

Card #2 – Chiaozza “The Cartoon Plant Sculptures” and “Bouquet Sculpture No. 3”
Paper: Mohawk Options, Smooth, 100% PC White, 130DTC
Ink and process: 4 color process, match pink, dense black
Under the name CHIAOZZA, artist duo Adam Frezza and Terri Chiao create whimsical sculptures made from junk mail, cardboard or other paper scraps that they collect and then pulverize in an industrial blender, mix with wood glue, and manipulate by hand.

Card 3# - Philipp Hainke “Organico” and “Halo”
Paper: Mohawk Renewal Hemp, Rough, Fiber White, 140C
Ink and process: 4 color process
Berlin-based artist Philipp Hainke has devised a new renewable material, “Organico,” which is produced by pressing hemp fiber and shives into solid forms using an adhesive. Hainke applies an artistic sensibility to designing sustainable, purposeful objects.

Card #4 – Lucas Munoz Munoz “MO de Movimeiento”
Paper: Mohawk Loop, Antique Vellum, Milkweed, 110DTC
Ink and process: 4 color process, dense black
Spanish designer Lucas Munoz Munoz’s transformation of a recording studio into a restaurant MO de Movimiento takes upcycling, reuse and natural materials to the extreme and makes a radical statement about the use of materials and resources in building reuse.

Card #5 – Virginia Fleck “Manifestation I” and “Manifestation II”
Paper: Mohawk Options, Smooth, 100% PC White, 130DTC
Ink and process: 4 color process, match silver, dense black
Artist Virginia Fleck strings together thousands of discarded aluminum can tabs, sometimes held together with safety pins, to create otherworldly hanging works that shimmer like precious metal and create extraordinary visuals from the disposable items.

Card #6 – Simone Post “Post-Plastic”
Paper: Mohawk Renewal Hemp, Rough, Fiber White, 140C
Ink and process: 4 color process, dense black
Dutch textile and product designer Simone Post was commissioned by Belgian plastic recycling company Eco-oh! to consider how plastics could be a part of a circular economy and investigate plastic’s possibilities from textural to structural applications and beyond.

The Sustainable Collection Inspiration Piece "The Materials is the Message" was printed by Kirkwood Printing Company of Wilmington, MA and designed by Hybrid Design of San Francisco, CA. To receive the Sustainable Collection piece, contact your Mohawk Representative or if you do not have a Mohawk Representative, you can request this resource online through Mohawk’s Connect With Us form or purchase a copy today.

For more information on Mohawk’s Sustainable Collection visit mohawkconnects.com/collection/paper/sustainable-collection. To learn more about all of the Paper With a Plan Collections visit mohawkconnects.com/paperwithaplan or go to mohawkconnects.com/collections to find the right paper for you.