I often ask groups in innovation teams to nominate the most important invention in the history of mankind. The ‘usual suspects’, the ones that come up most frequently, are the wheel, printing and the internet.
But how about paper? Twenty years ago, I used to hear so
much about the impending arrival of the 'paperless office'. That never looked
close to happening. And in more recent times it’s been the supposed death of
newspapers and books.
But still paper remains central to our lives.
So when was it invented – and by whom?
It seems to have been born in China, sometime around 100AD,
and has been ascribed to a eunuch in the Han court called Cai Lun. In its
earliest incarnations, paper was made from hemp waste, but over time this was
mixed with other plant materials – tree bark, bamboo etc.
Over the following centuries, paper-making spread throughout
Asia, arriving in Europe and North Africa around the 12th century,
gradually replacing parchment and vellum.
The arrival of printing in Europe in the 14th
century led to a massive growth in its usage.
Its uses nowadays remain so many and varied – from packaging
to Post-it notes, from banknotes to bodily waste. And in the office.
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