escending the narrow stairs from the creaking belly of the windmill, I can’t resist touching the thick sheets of paper, laid out in a kaleidoscope of colours – green, blue, pink and yellow – all grainy surfaces and unfinished edges. It’s the ultimate example of early recycling, using the fibres of textile waste such as rope, rugs and fishing nets. Still beloved by bookbinders and artists, Zaansch Bord paper, as it’s known, owes a key part of the production process to the soaring sails above my head. De Schoolmeester, or school master, is the world’s last remaining paper mill, where wind power is used to
