It just happened.

One day, half of a bauhinia leaf

came unstuck from the paper while being incrusted.

It had left its trace on the paper. So clear and so sharp!

The well-defined petiole, the delicate veins,

the lovely shape, the subtle colour,

everything was there except —

the leaf itself!

That was

the real turning point

in the adventure of

Auroville Papers.

As if,

before

departing

it left

its soul

on the paper.

At the beginning

of course there was cotton...

That was a must if we wanted to make an

environment friendly paper. Then like everybody,

we started decorating this paper with flowers and

leaves. But after that incident, we didn't think of leaves

anymore as a mere addition to the stationery. The

imprint they left on the wet pulp had become an integral

part of our paper.

We are privileged to live in South India where nature's

exuberance is well-known, and we live in Auroville with its well-

tended gardens and forests. Petals, stems, leaves, bark, grass and

seeds enter our paper and bring to it something of the wonderful

perfection only to be found in nature.

Different kinds of imprints on different kinds of paper,

this is our trade mark. Our note-books, photo frames,

photo albums, note-pads, have all been caressed and

blessed by branches with their memory.

And just as no one leaf on a tree is identical to another, each sheet

of our paper is unique.

Our best drawing board is the wet rectangle of paper pulp and our

best designer is the infinite play of nature's shapes and colors.

in order to pick up their leaves!

But don't ever think even for a moment

that we disturb the trees

We only gather those that have fallen on the ground,

prolonging a beauty which would have turned to dust.

You might agree that our papers are too

beautiful to be used just for stationery.

We even perfected a method for making

paper out of banana fibre. Once that

happened and we were happy with the

texture and shade of that paper, we

experimented further with those same

fibres and created a special lace-like

paper which is one of our best-selling

products. This paper can be used to

combine different strips of colour in

order to get the most striking and

original effect on one's walls.

But that is not all!

We discovered a novel way of using cotton:

The cotton maché

made of cotton and paper pulp,

combines the softness of cotton with the

strength of paper. Using this material, we

make coojas, bowls, big flowers, waste

paper baskets, pen holders, vases, and

stools in a variety of colours. And even a

sumo wrestler could sit on these stools!

Then we created objects

for home decoration:

posters, table sets,

coasters, mouse pads,

bags, and then a great

variety of jewellery items:

ear rings, bangles and

necklaces.

as a movement

which can enter

any place, any

time, and any

person – like a

breeze. We just

have to be alert enough to catch it. Sometimes a

mistake is an opportunity for discovering a beautiful

combination of colors that nobody had thought about.

An object made for the fun of it can become a popular

product. Our jewellery line started with the girls in the

binding section playing at making ear-rings. A different

method of binding, used initially for its simplicity,

ended up being the kind most suited to our paper. An

idea expressed by someone, then later dropped, could

be taken up by someone else, applied in a different

way and lead to a surprising result.

we like

to think

of creativity

In Auroville

Papers,

Creation is joy, creation is life and

it gives joy and life to Auroville Papers.

This is a constant movement towards the future.

Luisa says, “We have perhaps developed only

10% of our potential.”

As a matter of fact, our portfolios are full of

projects which have not yet gone into

production.

Creation is not limited to some individuals.

Every person working in Papers is encouraged to

participate in the search for beauty and to

develop his/her artistic skills. “Any one who has

an idea”, says Hervé, “is invited, and even

urged to try it out.”

Of course after the initial idea or concept is launched, there is a very long, very

meticulous and patient work to arrive at a perfect realisation. For us quality is

paramount. We want a perfectly finished product, and this is not only a

commercial necessity.

As people who have chosen to live in Auroville, we believe that all life is yoga;

we believe that work is an opportunity for growth and that the manner in

which an action is performed is more important than the action itself.

This principle is the greatest factor of unity among us. The real

emphasis is on team work. Of course

each one has their own domain

of activities, but the views of

each one are taken into

account before a

decision is taken,

regardless of age or

seniority in the

company.

All this can happen

only because we are part

of Auroville; a place for research, for

experiments and above all, for the individual's inner growth.

in which each one would find his true place and role without superficial imposition. The paradox here, and the challenge

too, is that we don't interact exclusively with Aurovilians sharing this ideal. We work with employees coming from the

surrounding villages. They didn't choose to experiment with a different kind of society, yet their life is intimately linked with

ours. Not only is there a difference in the cultural backgrounds, but also in the way work is perceived. For instance, we

would like to do away with the relation boss-employee; consequently we would like every worker to be as free and as

responsible as possible. This is not an aspiration necessarily shared or understood by all. To this challenge we found only

one answer: dialogue – on-going dialogue done as consciously as possible and with utmost respect and care. That way we

all will be able to progress and learn from each other.

a different kind of society

Auroville aspires to a different kind of society

I am happy to do it. There is

no separation between the

employees and the executives.

I am one of them.”

We are delighted to note that

most of our employees have

become more demanding

of quality than we are.

They have a sharper eye

for defects and are

quicker at rejecting

those!

What gives us great pleasure

is to see how over the years some employees have

developed skills and talents before unknown even to

them. A lady, who now manages the production of

stationery items, marvels at the way she has changed,

“When I came, more than 20 years ago, I didn’t know

anything. First I had to learn each step of the binding process.

Now, not only binding has no secret for me, but I know how

to organise the

work in our whole

section; I know

how to deal with

people (suppliers,

clients) even if

they are difficult

to please; I know

how to give

instructions to

employees.

Some people

work in a

company because they have to,

but this is not my case.

We don't do it for ourselves.”

It somehow does not fit with their idea of

Auroville being a “spiritual” place like an ashram.

Well, Auroville is meant to be a city, where all

activities normally found in a city, included

business, have their place. The difference lies in

the way we do business. Our aim is not to earn

our living, but to express ourselves and to

develop our capacities, while being of service to

the community. Our profit goes to the central

fund of Auroville and is utilised for the many

needs of an expanding community as well as for

the development of the neighbouring villages.

“This is a sign that Auroville works!” says Luisa,

“Just imagine: you have a lot of responsibilities;

you work hard; at times you get more than your

share of problems, but in the end instead of

grumbling and wondering ‘Why do I have to

go through all that?’ you are happy, and you

are happy because the profit

goes to Auroville!

I find this very

beautiful!

People are often intrigued by the fact that

“Business companies EXIST in Auroville!!”

She adds,

“And there are

so many things

that we do just

because

it is Auroville!”

For instance

our activities on the environment so we decided to

construct a waste water treatment plant. It has

taken more than two years, a long

process of trial and error with the

collaboration of several

Aurovilians to finally get what

we have now: “The most

beautiful waste water

treatment plant in

Auroville and possibly in

Tamil Nadu” says Hervé

with a smile in his beard.

No chemicals are used.

By flowing along a well-

studied course, by

passing through a vortex

and circulating amongst

plants, the water gets

purified. We are as proud

of this achievement as of

our paper.

we are actively concerned with the effect of

Similarly we are

concerned at the

fact that every day,

in Auroville as

elsewhere,

innumerable

computer

printouts find their

way to

overflowing waste

baskets.

How to re-use this

paper in a

sustainable way?

After a few

experiments, we

collected some of

this paper lying in

Auroville homes

and offices and

started making

recycled paper

meant for

Aurovilians.

This too was

not a commercial

necessity;

it was something

we thought

would be a useful

service

to the community.

We recently added a new feature to our activities:

From time to time we organize small workshops

where adults and children together can

experience the joy of making paper.

" This idea", said Hervé, “came to me after watching a

documentary where peasant folk from Central Asia were

shown making paper in a very simple way: cooking mulberry

bark in big pots, then beating the pulp on stones with wooden

mallets.

The first person who came and helped me

try out this method (we used banana tree

fiber as the only raw

material) was a little girl

and she enjoyed it very

much". So we organised a

few more workshops

under the trees.

The result was the most

beautiful paper we had ever made, fine

and smooth like silk.

Oh, the smiles on the faces of the

participants…

In 2011 we embarked upon

a new adventure:

preparing an exhibition.

We benefit from the special

atmosphere here – an

atmosphere which is

particularly conducive to

creation, since creation (like

Auroville) needs

“the fact that we can

express ourselves, we can

make mistakes, we have the

liberty to experiment, we

can do things just because

we love doing them.

“I appreciate”, says Luisa,

And this is possible because we are in Auroville.”

freedom and a connection with whatis the deepest in us.

The challenges were many as we wanted to

present only new and rather large pieces.

It had to be beautiful, it had to be varied, it had to

break new ground. We knew that we were

venturing a little out of the

paths of handicraft into the vast world of art,

but we did not let that intimidate us.

For about a year the whole team enthusiastically took up

the challenges one by one. Ideas burst forth.

Jean-Jacques said later,

“I love these moments when you experience the magic of

inspires a third person who finds yet some other fragment

of solution. The marvel of this is that neither of the three

could have found the solution on his own.

As the saying goes, 1 + 1 = 3”.

These were moments of intense pleasure.

collective work. You are not alone trying to solve a

problem. One person brings a part of the solution,

which leads to another person coming up with

another bit of solution, which in turn

We had fortunately planned

enough time to be able to work

without pressure, enough time to

be able to experiment, to explore

– which allowed us to be in a

different space. A process of

production requires hard work

and attention to details, but a

process of creation demands

another mood in which you are at

the same time aspiring and

inspired.”

Our employees first looked at this new

activity with some surprise, but then

creativity became contagious and they

started also enjoying the search for new

shapes, colors and textures. As a result, after

the exhibition opened in January 2012 at the

Art Center of Citadyne in Auroville, when they all

came to watch the result of the collective work, they

were thrilled.

The

outcome indeed was a

very colorful and humorous

exhibition. Wherever the eye went, it

met the unexpected. It is not for us to

praise our work, but it represented a very

important step in our development. Will it lead

to our company acquiring a very different

profile? Time only will tell. But we know for sure

that taking place as it did two weeks after the

devastation of the Thane cyclone, it did

something to soothe the hearts of

many Aurovilians. Is that not a

function of beauty?

Luisa says, “We benefit from

the fact that we are in India, and we

always remember the extraordinary

sentence of Sri Aurobindo when he

writes of ancient India 'When we look at

the past of India, what strikes us next is

her stupendous vitality, her inexhaustible

power of life and joy of life, her almost

unimaginably prolific creativeness… She

creates and creates and is not satisfied

and is not tired…'” We are aware that we

live on a land having the potential to re-

awaken the ancient spirit so strikingly

described there, and in a modest way we

are glad to somehow

participate in this

renewal.

Initially our biggest clients were in Europe and the

bulk of our production was exported. For a few

years now the trend has reversed, and we work

almost equally for Indian and foreign companies.

“Our relation with our clients is a privileged one”,

says Luisa. “Most of them have a deep contact

with Auroville, they have fallen

in love with our paper

and they don't see us

only as business

partners.” And just

as the solid

reputation of Auroville

handicrafts helps us in

our marketing, so we are

happy to note that our

success in Auroville Papers is

also a contribution to the

good name of Auroville.

It makes our work all the

more meaningful.

Our thanks to the Auroville trees,

and to the spirit of Auroville