Introduction
The History of
Parchment Craft
The original surface for writing on prior to
papermaking was papyrus, which was made from dried leaves of the Papyrus plant.
The first Parchment was invented in the Turkish town of Begama,
known as ‘Pergamum’
in Latin. The people there discovered that antelope and pig skins could
be specially treated for writing on. This new medium was called
‘Particaminum’, after the city where it was discovered and consequently this is
where the word Parchment was derived and eventually came into the English
Language.
Real parchment was eventually replaced by
parchment paper in the fifteenth century with the invention of the Printing
Press as the demand for paper increased dramatically and it needed to be
produced in greater quantities and by a faster process than the real parchment
made from skins. They also needed a product that was cheaper. The
original papers were opaque but this was soon followed by transparent parchment
paper.
The craft of writing on parchment originated in Europe during the 14th Century when hand made
devotional cards and communion cards were made for religious occasions.
The arrival of the printing press made it possible for the cards to be mass
produced and their popularity soared. During the 18th Century
the cards became larger and hand decorated borders appeared on them. The
French 19th Century parchment cards were more romantic than
religious with themes such as flowers and cherubs appearing popular. The
appearance of embossing and relief patterns can be traced to this period also,
whilst most of the borders and perforations appear to have been machine cut
rather than hand crafted as we see in modern day Parchment Craft cards.
At the end of the last century Catholic Nuns took
the art of Parchment Craft to South America
and taught it in the Convents and Boarding Schools. There it was welcomed
as a means of capturing both the religious and handicraft interest of the South
American culture.
The revival of Parchment Craft outside South America
is largely attributed to Martha Ospina who learnt the craft as a 14 year old
school girl in Columbia, South
America and continued to develop her skills in parchment
Craft. Some years later she married Tiemen Venema, a Dutchman and moved
to Holland.
The popularity of the craft grew and as the materials were not available in the
Netherlands.
Martha and Tiemen decided to develop and produce the tools and products
themselves. They founded Marjo-Arte in 1988 and introduced the
world famous Pergamano fan brand name.
In 1997 Peter Venema took over the
company and expanded it to an international level. He also changed the company
name into Pergamano International. From the year 2000 the company is situated
in Uithoorn, a stone's throw from Amsterdam.
Since the successful launch of Pergamano Parchment Craft in the Netherlands the
craft is taught by Registered Pergamano Tutors, who have studied to the highest
levels in the craft and continue to do so. These tutors are available in
over 25 countries worldwide.