1943 Born in San Carlo/Val Bavona CH 

1948-1960 Scooltime in Bienne 

1961 Return in his native valley 

1965 Open a workshop in Locarno for all the hand-printing technics.

1969 Start to produce and work with his one handmade paper.

1971 Artist book LE CATENE with text from Plinio Martini 

1973 Transforms an old sawmill into a papermill and sculptor’s workshop. 

1993 and 1996 Sojourn in New Zealand for the realization of big sculptures. 

1996 Artist book LES AFFLUENTS DU TEMPS 

2002 Artist book STEIN-GESTALT-SINN with text from Eugen Gomringer 

2008 Artist book LES OCÉAN DU CIEL with text from Zhuangzi

“Zhuangzi speaks about emptiness, infinity, time, they are feelings expressed in few words in my books. His work is deep, powerful, varied, and full of humor, fantasy, inventions, and extraordinary metaphors. I find lots of parts which have touched or delighted me in which I hope to illustrate one day.” François Lafranca said. This François Lafranca's artistic creation “Les Océans du ciel” adapted from the “Zhuangzi”, is deeply admired. Not only because he used traditional and nearly extinct European handmade paper technology and xylography applications, but also because he specialized in Zhuangzi's moral thinking.