paperguru.tk is operated by Stephen R. Hill, FInstSMM, FInstPPP, Paper Consultant & Environmental Conservationist

Stephen (Steve) Hill is a Fellow of the Institute of Sales and Marketing Management; Fellow of the Institute of Paper, Print & Publishing; a former member of the (U.K.) Paper Industry Technical Association, and one of the founding members of the British Association of Paper Historians, plus, for a few years a 'lay member' of the U.S.A. Technical Association for the Pulp and Paper Industries (TAPPI). With over 30 years in the paper industry (mostly in sales & marketing, and procurement rôles) for hand-made artists’ papers to humble (though very good) copier papers, plus graphical printing papers and boards, from mills in Scandinavia down to Italy, Steve's vast area of knowledge is now at your disposal.

Having sadly watched the demise of many mills that have lapsed into history from apparently active production, Steve is just as  keenly interested in those mills whose ancestry has been built upon and currently flourish, e.g. Whatman/Balstons Mill at Springfield in Maidstone since January 1st. 1807; Papeteries de Lana in France since 1590; Tervakoski, Finland 1818, and the list goes on. Particularly disappointing are the  'Phoenix' mills that either closed completely or looked doomed to do so, then sprang back up again fighting with every fibre of their being – Aconda Intermills in Spain, Meerson in The Netherlands, Malmedy in Belgium, and the wonderful ex MoDo mill, P.S.M. in France – only to go on to flounder and close for a final time, lost forever. Others, like St. Cuthberts Mill in Somerset in England buck the trend and, folowing management buy-outs, look to go from weakness to great strength.

As a further sign of his being a paper 'anorak', Steve collects papers from old (and modern) mills, especially those with watermarks, and other paper mill and merchant related ephemera, and is reputed to own the largest private colection of contempory swatches & promotional items in the U.K. All donations gratefully received!

As Hon. Vice President (European Affairs) of Grade Finders, Inc. of Pennslyvannia USA, Steve has been responsible for creating a European system of cataloguing papers and boards which has now found its way to directory status with Grade Finders, available in printed format and as a constantly updated web presence at www.paperbuyersonline.com which Steve is responsible for keeping updated with grades, classifications, technical information, as well as details of manufacturers & merchants for the whole of Europe. www.paperbuyersonline.com is the ultimate place to find any particular paper or board for virtually any application from any supplier in Europe. Free trials of that site are available upon request and an annual, no holds barred subscription at a very reasonable price, will pay for itself in no time at all, for printers, designers, specifiers and public authorities ~ also for merchants and manufacturers it's good to see what someone else might, or perhaps more importantlay, might not, be making/supplying!