Specialty Handmade Paper Via Paper Connection International

If you haven't heard of Paper Connection International, you're in for a treat. Since 1995, owner Lauren Pearlman Sugita has been importing handmade fine art and specialty papers from all over the world, notably Japan, India, Nepal, Latin America, China, and Korea, to the PCI studio and warehouse in Providence, Rhode Island.

PCI is known for its staff that offers decades of expertise in the world of paper along with dependable customer service. Technical assistance is provided to manufacturers, retailers, museum curators, bookbinders, conservators, artists, and designers.

 

Lauren frequently lectures and hosts workshops about the tradition of hand-making high quality paper, helping to ensure that the information is maintained by generations of artists and crafts in the East and West.

In addition to an incredible array of papers, browse PCI online to discover unique stationery, washi postcards, deckle-edge business cards, acid-free blank journals and scrapbooks, coasters, kites, masks, lampshades, party accessories, boxes, gift wrap, acid-free starch glue, marbled papers...

... and mizuhiki cord (below) which is made from tightly wound and starched rice paper. Originally it was made to tie up the hair of samurai warriors, but now is shaped into beautiful knots that can be used to decorate cards and gifts.

 

Paper Connection International has offered to send a selection of nine Japanese paper sheets ($30 value) to one U.S. resident who leaves a comment on this post. The superior papers would be ideal for bookbinding, card making, and box making, just to name a few ideas.  

The shipment of rolled papers will include:

3 sheets of Laurelai Designs designed in-house by Paper Connection International, LLC

1 vintage yuzen paper or chiyogami, a Kimono pattern from Japan

5 vintage Japanese papers from Echizen, Japan; pastel-colored textured washi

Several of the echizens and crepe echizens are not featured in PCI's catalog, so the winner will be receiving something unique from their vintage collection.  

Jeri Kim Lowe, Lauren's assistant, describes the papers: 

From left to right, the lighter colored papers - mint, yellow and lilac - are textured and would be ideal for all sorts of paper craft. They have crevices running through them and a crepe paper-like texture. They are often used for flower making. The three patterned papers - green with pink vine, gray with yellow flowers, and blue bubbles - are PCI Laurelei Designs, silk-screened patterns on acid-free, recycled cotton paper. The yellow echizen is a vintage paper with a pretty sheen that features a small Japanese calligraphy repeated pattern. The pink butterfly paper is a full sheet of vintage Japanese yuzen. Lastly, the peachy-pink echizen  is a bit metallic and has a pearlized sheen - quite nice and elegant! 

Leave a comment as your entry below. One winner with a U.S. mailing address will be selected at random on Monday, August 18 and announced here as soon as she/he has been contacted.

Paper Connection International has a blog and is on Facebook and Twitter. 

 Congratulations to the winner - Karen!