Fernando Paredano’s collection turns labels, invoices, posters and old business documents into clues for reconstructing more than a century of cider history.
LA SIDRA.- An old label may seem like an unimportant piece of paper. But when thousands are preserved alongside invoices, letters, advertisements and other documents, the result is a vast archive of cider memories.
That is La Sidra de Papel, Fernando Paredano’s collection, begun almost by chance in 2001 and now containing more than 9,000 cider labels from different countries.
The collection spans materials from the late 19th century to the present and makes it possible to trace changes in brands, design, advertising, markets and even the ways cider is presented in society.
Paredano does not preserve labels alone. The exhibition includes business correspondence, invoices, posters and other advertising materials that help reconstruct stories that might otherwise be lost.
Among the materials are documents that trace cider’s international presence, the evolution of businesses and curious episodes in the drink’s commercial history.
The importance of collections like this lies in more than their size. Their value lies in preserving modest documents that were almost never intended to last and that, over the years, become sources of historical information.
Each label preserves a name, a design, a place of origin and a particular moment.
Together, they form a graphic history of cider.
Related reading
- The cider label exhibition
- A cider label from 1960
- The photography competition’s commemorative label
- Labels from the XIV Primer Sidre l’Añu
- LA SIDRA 269
