Megan Adie - Japanese Paper Company

So much has been said about the "supply chain" these days. Our resources from around the world have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Eastern Europe as well as environmental concerns such as climate change, have all had their toll on the movement of goods from around the world. On this episode of The Unfinished Print, I will be try to unpack the "supply chain," and how it affects a specific artist, and small business owner. I speak with Megan Adie, a co-owner of the Japanese Paper Company. The JPC is an online shop which sells Japanese paper, or washi, with her wife Liz Jones. Megan is herself a printmaker and musician who opened a business at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when new ventures quickly became a risky proposition.    Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own mokuhanga work on Instagram @andrezadoroznyprints Twitter @unfinishedprint, or email me at [email protected]  Artists works follow after the note about them. Notes: may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Japanese Paper Company - website, Instagram, Facebook, Vimeo. Post Nord - is a state run postal service. It is operated by the governments of Sweden and Denmark. It is not a private company as referred to in this episode.  Chaveta Coffee - is a coffee shop servicing the Annex, and Seaton Village neighbourhoods of Toronto. More info, here.  The Japanese Paper Place - is a Japanese paper store located in Etobicoke, a suburb of Toronto. It has been serving the Canadian and International artistic community for forty years. You can hear the JPP's interview with the Unfinished Print, here.  conservation paper - is a paper used in preservation, disinfestation, and sterilization, wet/clearing etc of aging and old paper. Japanese paper is used in conservation as it has been known to have few impurities and is generally alkaline. More information can be found, here.  Edition/Basel - is a printmaking program located in Basel, Switzerland, and San Fransisco, California. It focuses on relief, intaglio, lithography, and photopolymer. More info, here. kōzo - is a paper made from the bark of the mulberry bush. It is used in mokuhanga frequently, and comes in various weights. Bicchu torinoko - is a handmade paper made from  gampi fibres. Used in mokuhanga.  A4 - is a commonly used type of paper. It is 297x210mm. Brexit - is the term used when describing the separation of the United Kingdom from the European Union, in 2020. letterpress - is a type of relief printing by using a printing press. It was popular during Industrialization and the modernity of the West. By the mid twentieth century, letterpress began to become more of an art form, with artists using the medium for books, stationary, and greeting cards. Mariko Jesse - is an illustrator, and mokuhanga printmaker based in Tōkyō, London, and California. Her work can be found, here. Mariko is also a part of the collective, wood+paper+box, which can be found, here.    Into the Garden Mia-O - is a South Korean printmaker based in Tōkyō, Japan. Her work is ephemeral and powerful. She has shown all over the world, most recently at the Kentler International Drawing Space in Brooklyn, New York.  Waterfall (2019) Mara Cozzolino - is a mokuhanga printmaker based in Northern, Italy. Her work is based on nature. She is the Publicity and Alternative Board Member for the International Mokuhanga Conference.  Rock Garden #2 (2022) Randi Annie Strand - is an artist based in Norway. She works in sculpture, installation, and book art. Her work can be found on her website, and Instagram.  Jupiter 2 (2012) - from the Univers series. Tami Komai - is a printmaker based in Basel, Switzerland. She has worked in intaglio, mokuhanga, linocut, and textile. More info can be found, here.  Malmö Artist Book Biennale  - is an international biennale which is hosted in Malmö, Sweden. It hosts workshops, and exhibitions "inspired by the structural and conceptual properties of the book form." More info can be found, here.   Hiromi Paper - is a brick and mortar, and online Japanese paper shop located in Culver City, California. More info can be found, here.  Echizen - is a region in Fukui Prefecture, Japan associated with Japanese paper making. It has a long history of paper making. There are many paper artisans in the area. One famous person is Iwano Ichibei whom Megan mentions in this episode. He is a Living National Treasure in paper making, and the ninth generation of his family still making paper today. More info can be found here in English, and here in Japanese.  Nicholas Cladis - is an artist and paper historian who teaches and lives in Iowa. He lived in Echizen from 2014-2020 where he studied how to make washi, taught at the Fukui Prefectural University, as well as being the International liaison for the paper making union. More info can be found on his website, here.  mitsumata - is a short fibre paper used in mokuhanga, and other art mediums.  daikon radish - is a Japanese radish which has been found outside of Japan, in parts of Asia and North America.  Ogawa - is a town in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It has a long history of paper making, from CE 774. You are able to visit Ogawa easily form Tōkyō. More info can be found, here.  Awagami -  is arguably the largest paper making company in Japan at the moment. With a large International name, Awagami sponsors, and promotes its paper all over the world. More information can be found on its website, here.  tengu-jo - is a very thin machine made Japanese paper that is 100% kōzo. It has been used in archival conservation. William Morris  (1834-1896) - was a British poet, textile designer, writer, journalist and politician. His work with book press design is very famous as well as is his hand in the Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain. More information about William Morris can be found, here, at the Willam Morris Society of the United States.  Andrew Stone - is an American mokuhanga printmaker based in Florence, Italy. He is also a baren maker. The baren is a mokuhanga specific tool. Andrew's interview with The Unfinished Print can be found, here.  The Three Graces Vandercook Press - is a proof printing press manufactured by Vandercook & Sons, beginning in 1909. They made different types of presses, such as letterpress and offset. They are now a part of NA Graphics.  © Popular Wheat Productions opening and closing credit - Sleepy Time Time by CREAM. From their debt full length, Fresh Cream (1966). logo designed and produced by Douglas Batchelor and André Zadorozny  Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) Слава Україну If you find any issue with something in the show notes please let me know. ***The opinions expressed by guests in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of André Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.***