history

The origin of Bolloré Thin Papers dates back as far as 1822, when the company founder invented a means of machine-producing thin paper fashioned after the rice paper he had encountered in China.

As the company grew, it acquired other manufacturers of thin paper, one of which had been founded in 1879 by Maurice and Jacques Braunstein. The Braunstein’s success was due to a patented packaging technique of overlapping thin papers in a dispenser. So successful was this offering that a larger production facility was needed. And while this plant was destroyed during World War II, a new facility that was to become Papeteries du Léman was constructed near the shores of Lake Geneva at Thonon-les-Bains to handle the demand and the company’s continued to grow.

While the company made a number of types of papers for different applications, in 1998 Bolloré Thin Papers began its focus on becoming the leader and specialist in thin, opaque papers. To satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for this sustainable and cost-effective product, the company added a second paper-making facility at Laval-sur-Vologne in France - Papeteries des Vosges.

With each of these facilities, Bolloré Thin Papers has created standards of production, quality, and sustainability that are unmatched in the thin paper industry, investing in technologies such as wet oxidation water treatment systems (OVH), construction of facility for the production of sustainable PCC (precipitated calcium carbonate) to replace titanium oxide, the creation of the first ever thin paper using recycled content, and the industry’s first-ever Life Cycle Assessment of its products.

Today, Bolloré Thin Papers is the unquestioned leader in the thin paper segment with production of 97,500 tons per year, FSC, PEFC and ISO certification, and some 20 percent of the global market.