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Description

(Summary) Paperlocs was born from a fixation with paper—making it, breaking it down, and seeing what else it could become. What began as a winter experiment in 2022 took over a living room and balcony, turning them into a home studio that became a playground for handmade papermaking and unconventional printing techniques. In a place where creative pursuits often take a back seat to survival, it somehow kept going.

(Concept Development) It started with a college project. In a visual communication class, our teacher taped words to the wall and told us to pick one blindly. My friend pulled «proud». The assignment was to make a notebook—simple enough, but it led him down a rabbit hole of handmade papermaking. The imperfections, the textures, the physicality of it—we couldn’t let it go. Soon we were wandering the streets of Athens, hauling cardboard and scraps, turning discarded materials into something worth keeping. Our graphic design instincts mixed with analogue experimentation, leading us to fully DIY every step—screen printing, cutting, sewing—keeping the process raw, flawed, and honest.

(Background) Paperlocs became more than a project. It was an escape from corporate routines, endless screens, and the demands of mass production. Slowly, it grew. Friends, printing houses, and designers started contributing scraps and collaborating. What began as a survival project became a way to reclaim time, space, and creative breath. Paperlocs sits at the edge of craft and design, where discarded materials are transformed into new stories. Recycled paper is both material and medium. Zines became a central outlet—small, hand-crafted publications blending photography, design, and experimentation. Each sheet of paper, every print, carries the marks of its making. Imperfections aren’t mistakes; they’re proof that this wasn’t meant to be polished.

(Development) Through bazaars, we shared what we made, putting our work out into the world despite the chaos of keeping it afloat. What was supposed to be a side project soon demanded more time than it should—teetering on the edge of obsession. The sleepless nights? Somehow still worth it.

(Aims & Objectives) Paperlocs questions the need for perfection. It challenges the polished, market-driven approach to design and embraces the rough, tactile, and imperfect. It’s not about slowing down as much as surviving long enough to keep creating. Paperlocs keeps going because despite everything, it still matters. Even when it shouldn’t.