Hahnemühle have been making paper in Lower Saxony since 1584, which means they were producing artist-grade paper roughly a century before Isaac Newton started thinking seriously about optics. The Bamboo Sketch Pad is one of their more recent additions to that legacy — and somewhat fittingly for a company with that kind of heritage, it is built around a material that has been cultivated for thousands of years rather than one invented in a laboratory.
The paper is 90% bamboo fibre and 10% cotton, which gives it a warm, natural white tone and a fine grain surface with just enough tooth to grip the pigment from pencil, charcoal, and other dry media cleanly. Bamboo grows at a pace that makes conventional timber look inefficient, which is the environmental case for the material. The artistic case is a warm-toned, age-resistant paper that behaves consistently and looks beautiful on the shelf as well as on the desk — the bamboo-stem cover design is a small but considered touch.
Each A5 pad contains 30 sheets, top-glued for stability while drawing. At 105gsm it is heavy enough to handle pencil and charcoal without buckling, and light enough that the pad itself is genuinely portable.
- Size: A5 (14.8 × 21cm)
- Sheets: 30
- Weight: 105gsm
- Composition: 90% bamboo fibre, 10% cotton
- Surface: Fine grain — suitable for pencil, charcoal, red chalk, pen and ink
- Colour: Natural white, warm tone
- Binding: Top-glued
- Acid-free, vegan, age-resistant
- Made in Germany
- Brand: Hahnemühle | Ref: 10628560
Frequently Asked Questions
What media work best on this paper?
It is specifically designed for dry techniques — graphite pencil, charcoal, coloured pencil, pastel pencil, and red chalk all perform well on the fine grain surface. The tooth grips pigment cleanly and allows smooth blending. It is not designed for wet media such as watercolour or ink washes, though light pen and ink line work is fine.
Is the bamboo paper different from standard cartridge paper?
Yes, noticeably. The 90% bamboo content gives it a warmer tone than standard white cartridge paper — closer to cream than stark white — and a slightly rougher surface texture that is more responsive to dry media. The combination of bamboo and cotton also makes it more age-resistant than wood pulp cartridge paper.
Is it acid-free?
Yes — the paper is acid-free and age-resistant, meaning work done on it will not yellow or degrade over time in the way that cheaper papers do. Worth noting if you are using it for sketches you intend to keep.
How does this compare to Hahnemühle's watercolour pads?
This is a sketch pad, not a watercolour pad. The 105gsm weight and fine grain surface are optimised for dry techniques rather than wet media. For watercolour, you need a heavier paper — typically 300gsm — with a different surface treatment. Hahnemühle make excellent watercolour pads separately.
Is this genuinely sustainable?
Bamboo grows significantly faster than the timber used in conventional paper production — it can be harvested within a few years rather than decades. The 10% cotton content comes from cotton rag rather than virgin fibre. Whether that meets your personal definition of sustainable is your call, but it is a more considered production choice than standard wood pulp paper.
