We have been papermakers since 1584 – Hahnemühle celebrates 437 years

While a well-known cola brand keeps its recipe in the safe, we use our old recipe books every day. We are celebrating our 437th birthday this year and are more than 300 years older than the American beverage manufacturer. For us, everything began on 27 February 1584 with pure spring water. We are the oldest paper mill globally, producing with pure water from its own wells at the same location since inception. On 27 February 1584, the Duke of Brunswick granted our founding father, Merten Spieß, permission to establish a paper mill in Reylingehausen (Relliehausen) near Dassel in Lower Saxony, Germany. In the time that followed, the “Reylingehäusische Papiermühle” grew at the foot of the Solling, and since 1886 it has borne the euphonious name Hahnemühle. Our timeline reflects many of our additional milestones. Just click on the image to enlarge.

In more than four centuries of uninterrupted manufacturing history, Hahnemühle has repeatedly invented new products and demonstrated entrepreneurial flair in the broad field of paper applications. It all began with writing and document papers, and later artist papers were added. Then in 1883, we started manufacturing high-purity papers for technical applications such as filtration. In the 1960s, we were the first to produce vegan artist papers without animal size. In the 1990s, we invented FineArt inkjet papers for photo prints in museums and galleries, which are still the benchmarking FineArt inkjet papers. Nowadays, we are a system-relevant supplier of high-purity paper components for Covid19 tests and bring the finest stationery products to market with our papermaking DNA. With this long tradition and our firmly anchored claim to quality, innovation, and culture, you will find us included in the “Brands of the Century” register in 2015. As Hahnemühle, we thus proudly join the list of other world-renowned brands like soft-drink makers.