Festive motifs are as much a part of Christmas wrapping paper as candles are to an Advent wreath: they account for a good portion of its sparkle and radiance. Our selection of Florentine papers features traditional depictions of poinsettias and Christmas trees, holly and mistletoe, and, last but not least, the Nutcracker. With understated graphics and subtly accented by gold-colored elements, the classic Christmas colors of red and green shine particularly beautifully against a light background.

This kind of paper goes back to a tradition in the Middle Ages in Florence. Formerly printed with wooden stamps with a simple design, it was employed as covering material for books. Now it is used as lining paper for shoe boxes or cupboards, drawers and chests of drawers. We sort the décor paper as we think best and ship it five sheets to a roll.

Colored paper - what sounds so banal at first is anything but just colored paper. The English term "decorated paper" is clearer than its German equivalent. In contrast to dyed colored papers from craft supplies, these are artistically processed, printed and embossed papers with a rich history, enhanced with colors, metal foils and motifs. And Florentine papers are a particularly traditional and colorful variant.

The history of Italian colored paper began in the 1720s in Florence, a flourishing center of book and paper production. It was so-called form cutters who carved the initially simple, geometrically inspired and rather small-scale motifs from wooden printing blocks known as models. The papers known today as Carta Varese are a direct descendant of this tradition. Some motifs have even been used unchanged since the early days. Then as now, multicolored prints are created in separate work steps in which the colors are applied in individual printing processes (in the past with different models, today mostly in offset printing). The result: particularly splendid colors with depth and luminosity.

Florentine papers, also known as fantasy papers, are an extremely eye-catching category with their often large-scale, nature-inspired patterns with vine, flower or bird motifs. The lavish decorations lent a luxurious appearance to chocolates, jewelry and fragrances in particular, as well as their boxes and cardboard packaging.

For centuries, Florentine papers, like other colored papers, were also used in book production. Bookbinders used them to decorate bindings or as splendid endpapers. And even if this purpose has become a marginal phenomenon in the modern publishing industry, Florentine papers are still very popular as fine wrapping paper and among lovers of sophisticated stationery as a material for creative work. And it can't really be colorful enough.