Woah, more paper goods from overseas, thanks M.! They are from Relma in Paris, a store which has been in business for almost a century.

Wrapped under this beautiful purple textured paper are 3 sheets of paper goodies. I undoubtedly saved this wrapping paper.


Goodie number 1: Hand-printed decorative paper, the pattern is absolutely classic and detailed:


Goodie number 2: Marbled paper:


Goodie number 3: Another sheet of gorgeous marbled paper which costs 20 euros:


Now let's take a look close up look of this gorgeous piece of art:


And some book cloths, which have a beautiful pearly sheen:

My friend Marc just came back from Japan a little while ago, and I am just glad that he didn't forget about me. He got me some omiyage (souvenir). And yes, you guessed it right, it's paper.

When he was at the store, he took a picture to showed me the stack of paper, asked if I wanted any. Of course, there was no way I could say no. Thanks to technology that he could e-mail me a picture right away and I could reply him instantly. Otherwise the unthinkable would happen: that I wouldn't receive these beautiful sheets of handmade washi!

The store that he visited was Mingei Kagizuru (民芸 かぎづる) in Takayama-shi (高山市), where it's full of traditional artisan crafts.

The washi was flown over nicely rolled up:


The 3 sheets of handmade washi range from thin, medium to heavy weight. Look at the deckled edges and the beautiful kozo fabric laced in the paper. They also smell so, kozo.

My dear friend Ong just came back from Thailand and brought me some great paper and paper goods. Yes, he got me a few sheets of the elephant dung paper that I've wrote about before. Though not from the same factory, these sheets of paper were also made from the high-fiber content elephant dung.

Apparently elephant dung paper is commonly known as "umbrella paper" because it is mostly used for making umbrellas. The sheets that he got were made at a paper factory of one of his acquaintances near Chiang Mai, located at the north of Thailand.


On top of that, I also got a couple of bags of ultra-cute miniature paper flowers made from the same paper and a ton of dried leaves. Not sure what I am going to do with them just yet...

Disclaimer: Nope, I neither have received any benefit from Snow and Graham nor related to them in any way. I just like their designs!

I have been a fan of the decorative paper designed by Chicago-based stationery company Snow & Graham for quite some time now. Their Cherry Bloosom design always has a special place in my heart. You can find these designs not only as decorative paper (which they marketed them as "wrapping paper"), but also on their various stationery products.



I generally do not like flowery prints, but S&G's flowers are so simple and "2D" that I just adore. Their designs tend to stay between 2 to 5 colors, thus creating simple graphic patterns that are bold and sharp.

I have to post this! This is madness! I am speechless.
More pictures on Gizmodo and Tokyo Bling.

I picked up 2 unusual Japanese origami books from Kinokuniya last week, both on folding paper chopstick envelopes. Whenever you encounter a pair of disposable chopsticks at an eatery, chances are, they come in a paper chopstick envelope. You may have already been folding something out of them while you wait for the food to arrive, most likely a simple trapezoidal chopstick rest.

Chopstick Rests with Chopstick Envelopes (箸袋で箸置き。/ ISBN: 9784569703633) offers chopstick rest models in the form of a squid, a cat, a duck, and even a boot which also serves as a toothpick holder. It also includes fun models to amuse your dining partners: a pair of tongs, a blowing pipe, a clapper and a snapping fish. (You can see some of the pages on this Japanese website.)

Chopstick Envelope Origami for Grown-ups (ウケる！おとなの箸袋おりがみ/ ISBN: 9784072582244) also offers models that can be used as chopstick rests. It has advanced animal models such as rabbit, cat, dachshund and peacock, as well as an octahedron and icosahedron. All using a single chopstick envelope! It also features a few models using paper napkins.

Both books are available at Amazon Japan and the Kinokuniya (US) website, just search by the ISBN's. Kinokuniya has a great selection of Japanese books on origami and katagami.

A few recent finds on paper art:

Yulia Brodskaya's Paper-cut Illustrations (via craftzine)


Jen Stark with construction paper (via craftzine)


This Is Where We Live, a paper-construct stop animation by created by Apt Studio and Asylum Film for 4th Estate Publishers' 25th Anniversary.

I just acquired a few sheets of the Nepalese lama li paper which are really interesting (with interesting names, too!)

Uptown Pink


Eastside Green


Downtown Black