RK Burt

Supplying the paper trade for more than 130 years, as one of the UK’s leading importer and wholesalers, RK Burt & Co. continues to shape the UK creative industry today.

RK Burt & Co. supply the fine art market with technically brilliant and visually beautiful paper based products, our earliest customers included The Bank of England and Lloyds of London, and today we supply the UK’s printers, publishers, retailers, film studios and professional artists.

In 2019, GF Smith were lucky enough to acquire RK Burt & Co., marking the beginning of a strong and prosperous relationship; combining our wealth of knowledge, expertise and love of all things paper.

Traditional Fine Art Papers

RK Burt & Co. offer a wide variety of traditional fine art papers suitable for watercolour, sketch & drawing, mixed media, pastel, book binding, oil & acrylic and printmaking as well as products such as beautiful notebooks, cards & envelopes and printed Nepalese tissue.

From loose sheets to glued pads, blocks, spiral pads and wide format rolls, these papers are available in a variety of formats.

RK Burt & Co. also offer a bespoke pad service where you can have your logo, artwork and any other information on the cover of a glued or spiral bound pad with the content paper of your choice, with minimum order quantities as low as 10.

Fabriano

Established in 1264, the Fabriano mill is one of Europe's oldest and most renowned paper mills. Located in Italy, the mill is famous for its innovations in papermaking, including the use of watermarks, gelatine sizing, and the multiple hammer mill. Fabriano produces a wide range of papers, from handmade to Fourdrinier machine-made, and is known for its commitment to quality and renewable energy.

At RK Burt, we offer an extensive selection of beautiful Fabriano products, including Artistico, Unica, Medioevalis Card & Envelopes, the Venezia Notebooks, and many more. In 2025, we will introduce some new and exciting products, including Bamboo Mixed Media, the Cromia Leporello, and the Recycled Drawing range.

St Cuthberts Mill

Situated in the Southwest of England, in the beautiful countryside of Somerset. St Cuthberts Mill has been making paper since the 1700s, taking advantage of the pure waters of the River Axe - experts in making archival artists' papers, with a reputation for the consistent quality of high-end papers. The St Cuthberts Mill name is a hallmark of quality. At RK Burt, we offer the complete St Cuthberts portfolio, including Bockingford®, Saunders Waterford®, Millford® and Somerset® Printmaking.

2025 has been the year of Bockingford®. It is admired by amateur and professional artists alike. It is a beautiful, English-made paper that is versatile and forgiving. It is a reliable paper that produces good washes. It is superb for colour lifting techniques, with the ability to remove paint back to the white of the sheet.

Arches

Arches is a prestigious French paper mill with a rich history and a strong commitment to traditional papermaking techniques, producing high-quality papers favoured by artists and printmakers worldwide. The Arches paper mill is the only French mill that manufactures all its papers using cylinder moulds; this traditional method is the best way of making luxury paper that is stable and watermarked, with a natural grain and deckle edges. Great artists like Paul Cézanne, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse have produced some of their major works on Arches paper.

The Arches Blocks are a firm favourite amongst professional artists and beginners. They are glued on four sides, mould-made, gelatine tub-sized, and 100% cotton. The blocks are available in Hot Press, Cold Press, and Rough, ideal for watercolour and all wet techniques.

Hahnemühle Fine Art

RK Burt now offers the full Hahnemühle Traditional Fine Art range. Hahnemühle is a German paper mill with a history dating back to 1584. They specialise in the production of fourdrinier and cylinder mould machine-made fine art papers. Hahnemühle also offers an extensive range of notebooks, postcard tins, travel journals, and even a bookmark pad.

Hahnemühle is known for its commitment to sustainability and long-standing tradition of producing papers using traditional and innovative techniques. The papers and boards of Hahnemühle Traditional Fine Art are characterised by supreme quality, resistance to ageing, and numerous applications. They are simply beautiful!

Canson

The Canson paper mill, based in Annonay, France, has a rich history dating back to 1557 and is known for producing high-quality papers for artists. They are a world leader in fine art paper and offer a wide range of products, from drawing and tracing paper to paper for watercolour, oil and acrylic.

Canson has a long history of papermaking, with a strong tradition of innovation and expertise passed down through generations. Canson emphasises the importance of high-quality products and continues to innovate and adapt to meet the needs of artists and creators. Notable artists like Picasso, Warhol, Miro, and Van Gogh have used Canson's paper, highlighting its quality and appeal to artists.

Clairefontaine

The Clairefontaine mill has been making paper on the banks of the Meurthe River in Etival, France, since 1858. They have a long history of producing top-quality artist papers, notebooks, craft, and stationery products. At RK Burt, we offer a curated range of Clairefontaine products, including Paint On, Graf It, Oil, Acrylic, Kraft, and Maya.

One of our favourite products is the Clairefontaine Pastelmat, a unique product with a strong, coarse, velvety surface with more tooth than traditional Ingres papers but without the abrasive qualities of sand papers. Pastelmat is so versatile that in addition to pastels and pencils, it will support most dry and wet techniques, including oil pastels, charcoal, coloured pencils, acrylics, watercolour and gouache. Available in sheets and glued pads in multiple colours and sizes.

Digital Fine Art Papers

Whether you’re a professional print lab, a photographer looking for the perfect printing paper, an artist searching for something extra special or you just want to find the best medium to showcase you digital creations, RK Burt & Co. supply some of the world’s finest inkjet fine art paper out there.

The Awagami Inkjet Collection

Created solely at the sixth-generation family run Tokushima Mill, this collection of extraordinary Japanese papers are crafted from traditional natural fibres, such as Kozo, Bamboo, Hemp, Cotton and Gampi.

Suitable for photographers, designers and hybrid printmakers alike, these papers retain the texture of Japanese washi whilst being specially coated to maximise the creative potential of your digital prints.

Available in a variety of textures, shades, weights and sizes.

The Canson Infinity Fine Art & Photo Collection

The Canson Infinity fine art and photo range has a superior pedigree, with a history that delves back centuries. An extensive and exceptional collection of papers that produce outstanding print quality, the fine art inkjet papers are 100% archival, perfectly suited for exhibitions, prestigious art collections, and exclusive limited editions prints.

Canson Infinity have recently added the Somerset Enhanced range to their portfolio, made at St Cuthberts Mill in Somerset using a traditional cylinder mould to create the look and feel of a handmade paper, the new and improved range features a superior surface coating.

Canson Infinity offers you museum quality fine art and photo papers in a range of weights, roll sizes and cut sheets.

St Cuthberts Mill

When it comes to artists looking to create their own limited edition prints, Bockingford Inkjet is a great option. Using a traditional mould machine and made in the same time-honoured fashion as Bockingford watercolour paper, fantastic prints can be reproduced to look like the original using a good inkjet printer.

Unlike some fine art inkjet papers, Bockingford Inkjet has an ink receptive coating on both sides of the sheet, allowing limited edition books and portfolios to be created.

The Hahnemühle Digital FineArt Collection

A comprehensive collection of high quality, unique fine art inkjet papers created for those who are looking to get the best out of their images. Achieving outstanding printing results, the Hahnemühle Fine Art inkjet papers are perfect for long term exhibitions, art collections and special editions.

Using high quality artist papers as a base, Hahnemühle add a premium inkjet coating to every sheet for impressive reproduction of colour and detail, incredible contrasts and deep blacks.

All Hahnemühle papers are vegan and have been certified by independent institutes to be highly resistant to ageing.

Droplet Digital Fine Art Collection

Meticulously curated for both quality and versatility, our brand new Droplet collection of inkjet papers offer the perfect solution for every project. With a range of surface textures, weights, tones and finishes, these papers redefine the possibilities of traditional inkjet fine art paper.

Featuring the work of bold and innovative young photographers, the Droplet sample prints highlight the exceptional capabilities of Droplet fine art papers.

Available in 24’’ and 44’’ roll formats.

Compatible with all modern inkjet printers, including Canon, Epson and HP.