We will help you navigate and interpret the vast world of specialty art papers and their cultural histories. When you contact Paper Connection, you won’t be simply buying paper, you will be experiencing paper. Here you’ll be able to hold a piece of culture in your hand.

We are your premier resource for fine art and specialty papers made by skilled crafts people mainly in the East to suit the paper needs of artists and institutions around the globe. For three decades, Paper Connection has been providing great quality paper paired with technical assistance to the art and craft world, including retail stores, manufacturers, printers, bookbinders, conservators, curators, artists and designers.

Paper Connection’s Connection to Paper;

While our paper journey began in JAPAN, it was inevitable that we should travel to the country where it all began, CHINA. Traditional types of paper are still being handmade in CHINA, known as xuan paper (pronounced “shwen”), even with the mechanization and mass production bringing on so much overall national change.

In the late 1990’s, we added 50 colors of lokta (a daphne plant) papers from NEPAL plus many woodblock and silkscreened patterns, vegetable-dyed and marbled lokta papers.

Since 2008, Paper Connection has had the honor and delight to become the exclusive supplier of Aiko’s Art Materials (formerly of Chicago, IL) special Japanese papers.

In 2013, we traveled to KOREA to bring back, hanji . We wanted to meet the interest in and demand for paper for joomchi (paper felting) and jiseung (cording for paper basketry). We currently stock close to 40 colors of color-dyed hanji, plus hanji for conservation, mokuhanga (woodblock prints), calligraphy, etc.All stocked hanji are handmade from 100% mulberry fiber, called “cham dak”.

Mainly recognized as a leading source of washi, Paper Connection is now known for its large collection of specialty papers from many other remote places in the world, such as: China, India, Korea, Mexico, Nepal, and The Philippines.

From plain to highly decorative papers; conservation tissues like “tengujou-shi” to coated bamboo papers for wide-format digital printers, we stock a wide variety of large sheets, and rolls, plus wheat starch, brushes, some papermaking tools, annual Japanese calendars, gift wrap, origami, paper twine, journals, paper kites, masks, wallets, stationery and more.

Paper Connection’s goal for the greater paper world:

Through import, distribution, and education, founder Lauren Pearlman Sugita and her staff, remain committed to the preservation of traditional hand papermaking, the papermakers themselves, and ensuring there will be good quality paper in the market for future generations. Thanks to your continued support, Paper Connection International is able to provide you with the finest quality paper, while preserving the integrity of this craft.

*As of 2002, Lauren maintains a double-residence in both Japan and Rhode Island; thus she has easy access to many of our suppliers. Ms. Sugita makes her rounds on the lecture circuit to discuss the major changes that have occurred in the handmade paper world that she has witnessed first hand, as well as the past, present, and future of hand papermaking.