With bamboo-based products on the rise, we wanted to see how they compared to their plastic and paper counterparts.
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Hanji is traditional Korean paper made by hand one sheet at a time. Artisans turn the weblike fibers of paper mulberry trees into paper that can last more than a thousand years. The most expensive hanji costs over $20 per sheet. But despite hanji's quality, demand is in decline.
- Parchment is one of the most durable writing materials in the world.
- The ancient material was invented more than 2,000 years ago but almost went extinct after the Middle Ages.
- At 92, İsmail Araç is one of the last artisans in the world
Pop quiz: which big company was the first to popularize electronic paper e-readers with consumers by making it easy to find and load ebooks and other digital documents? If you answered Amazon, we’ll see you in summer school, because Sony’s e-readers outdated the Kindle by years.