From our humble beginnings in 1982, when owner Nancy Jacobi started showing artists and bookbinders these gorgeous papers from the trunk of her car, The Japanese Paper Place staff of 11 remain committed to the company's ideal of encouraging and promoting creativity with quality Japanese papers.

Though we have a warehouse full of machinemade and decorative Japanese papers which we ship around the world, our particular passion is for sharing traditional Japanese handmade papers with the world while they are still being made.

Nancy Jacobi

Sigrid Blohm is a lover of things natural, including canoeing in Ontario's north country. She works magic with natural Japanese papers like soft Tengu-jo tissue which she stitches in layers and gampi and kozo paper which she dyes in her own indigo vat. She is our Fine Paper Manager and helps to organize workshops (her own “stitching washi” included) and exhibitions, and gives advice with the knowledge that comes from long experience using and being passionate about traditional Japanese paper. 

At our Toronto warehouse, Walter Chatterpaul has been our assistant building manager and chief cutter for the past seven years.  Accurate cutting both by hand and by machine is extremely important in the paper business -- to these Walter brings both care and precision. His recommended paper is a "well-behaved" one like machine-made Mokume. Walter has made measurement and cutting on our huge electric cutter as much an art as lacemaking or woodturning. His record of accuracy has us considering his nomination for the Guinness Book of World Records. He loves rock & roll, and has taught us all about his birth country, Guyana.

Shirley Imaizumi has brought her years of Ninjutsu training in the gentle arts of persuasion to her position as Manager of Canadian Wholesale. A fellow English teacher with founder Nancy in the 70s in Japan, she has been on staff here since the eighties and is a Japanophile through and through. If you need help putting together an order of highly sellable paper product for your store or putting together a trip to Japan, Shirley's the one to email.

Among many caps that Peter wears is that of "Creative Director of Packaging." We receive many unsolicited compliments on how well papers are packaged. He is also the capable jack-of-all-trades who makes sure our warehouse environment is safe and pleasant - down to the great jazz tunes playing on the stereo in the shipping and cutting area.

Peter is also happy to pass along his expertise in one of our most popular workshops, "Lampshade Making."

Jessica, fresh from her first trip to Japan - she loved it! - is our Webmistress and sales associate for U.S. and worldwide origami customers. Also, as a self-professed geek, she is the computer software and hardware wrangler for the office. She has a fascination with treehouses, and can always be bribed with cookies of dark chocolate.

As a graduate of printmaking from the Ontario College of Art and Design, Julia brings her eye for colour combinations and her creative ideas to the Production area as Kayoko's assistant.

Alison is our resident Office Goddess and the pleasant voice you will most often hear when you call. She is also in charge of answering email inquiries and attending to our many graphic arts needs. She also enjoys the combination of light, colour and washi, in the form of candle lanterns, translucent papier-mache and illuminated festival  props.

Production manager Kayoko's keen aesthetic sense and organizational skills show through in everything she  does - from creating the fabulous colour combinations of papers  found in our "Potluck" series of packaged products to the crisp origami and delightful paper dolls she makes. Although she  always puts in a full day's effort, we do occasionally catch her gazing longingly out the window in really good golfing weather. Kayoko rallied to help us after our devastating fire in 1993 and has continued to help us in countless ways ever since.

Duke has been with us for two and a half years and has become a professional packer with a proud record of packages arrived in perfect condition. As well as this, Duke has a fantastic head for remembering Chiyogami codes - amongst other numbers. Sudoku anyone?

When the boss isn’t looking, he and Nancy do Tai Chi between the shelves.

Mary Jane – known around the office as “MJ”  - was first introduced to natural Japanese papers as a student at the Ontario College of Art and Design. She loves their versatility and resiliency, and uses them almost exclusively in her own dyed and stitched artwork.  With a professional background in communications, MJ combines her skills and passions to provide art supply store and U.S. accounts with the JPP’s special brand of customer service.