Presented last April 27 in Sunbilla, in the Autonomous Community of Navarre, where the fern- and paper-based economic initiative will be developed, the project takes an approach that has been described as "retro-innovative," because it looks to the past to learn from traditional wisdom and craft - particularly, in this case, regarding fern management in rural environments and artisanal paper production - to combine that wisdom with modern technologies, nanotechnology and digital printing techniques.

The process began with the collection of ferns and its preparation for chemical treatment. This was followed by the extraction of cellulose fibers and nanofibers. From there, the fern fibers and nanofibers are used to produce paper, to which printing and finishing techniques are then applied.

The project also included the study of entrepreneurial developments of this initiative with students from Salesian Vocational Training Centers in Toulouse (Gipuzkoa) and Pamplona and the cooperative "Malerreka Common Zerbitzuak"; and included from the beginning the involvement of people at risk of social exclusion. As Isabel Elizalde, of Malerreka Common Zerbitzuak, explained, "we were able to make paper from ferns thanks to the collaboration of all the people involved, and here we have proof of that." Indeed, in the exhibition on the first results of the project, set up in the arcades of Sunbilla City Hall, it was possible to see and touch these new papers made from ferns.

Miren Garate, from the Department of Graphic Arts of the Salesians in Pamplona, said, "It was a great experience, a challenge, to be able to apply a different way of learning with our partners. It was about trying different ways of printing and finding a finish for the paper that was already printed."

Mentxu Aiertza, from the "Don Bosco," center in Toulouse, told of starting with fern collected from the "Malerreka Common Zerbitzuak" and making pulp and paper from it. "Fern is quite complicated to work with, but it was a challenge. In our school, we work a lot on the industrial side of paper, whereas this challenge required working more by hand, in an artisanal way, and the students brought this knowledge with them, which is equally important."

Both educational center representatives rated the work with the students very highly, both in terms of technological innovation and in the entrepreneurial training sessions conducted by "Conexiones improbables."

The future of the project includes further research and the possibility of creating a handmade paper from fern. In fact, some experts believe that a local variety of gorse (otio) may be a viable candidate to work alongside fern for pulp extraction. A feasibility study will, therefore, be carried out to see if it is possible to set up a craft workshop to create paper from fern and other plants; and then other studies to assess what products could be made from this type of paper, with the goal of developing local job opportunities.

Here is the video on the project results: https://youtu.be/mvLm14GSbMQ 

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