Go to "The Art of the Book 2018" information page (PDF file)
- October 1, 2017, Entry Forms will be available.
- Deadline for Entry: January 15, 2018
- May, 2018: Entries to arrive in Victoria for jurying.
Heritage Washi Award for Art of the Book 2018
Voucher for $500 from The Japanese Paper Place
In recent years the term washi has been appropriated by makers of printed tape for the hobby industry. This has been a runaway hit for the "washi tape" manufacturers but an unfortunate step
backwards for those papermakers in Japan who are still producing washi to the highest standard of their ancestors while counting on the increasing understanding of the advantages of paper
produced with this much care.
To honour these committed papermakers and to highlight the advantages of Heritage washi, The Japanese Paper Place offers this award.
What is Heritage washi?
"Heritage washi" is the term we now recommend to describe papers which are:
- 100% Japanese fibre (kozo, mitsumata or gampi)
- cooked in soda ash or lime
- made by hand
What are the advantages of Heritage washi?
- great strength and longevity even when thin and/or wet
- thorough, controlled integration of ink, textile dye, gouache, watercolour or acrylic paint into the fibres of the paper
- crisp folds and malleability
- surface beauty and tactility good for the soul
How can Heritage washi be best utilized by book artists?
- for books as cover and end papers, dyed or painted and treated with konnyaku starch to make momigami
- for relief and intaglio prints inside the book or on the cover/end sheets
- for marbling and other decorative treatments to be used in books
- for stab-sewn Japanese style book interiors or covers, or accordion-fold books
- for long-wearing boxes and sleeves
There are still many kinds of Heritage washi made and available. Here is a list of some, many of which are available through our resellers:
Resellers List
Orders over $100 may be ordered directly through The Japanese Paper Place.
- Kizuki tosa kozo
- Kurotani kozo (many weights and variations)
- Mitsumata tissue light and heavy dyed with iron oxide - pink and grey
- Oguni kozo papers (often snow-bleached)
- Seichosen (kozo) - in 3 sizes
- Seikosen (mitsumata) - in 3 sizes
- Sekishu banshi mare ( hand-pounded and dried on wood) and sekishu banshi tsuru (dried on stainless steel)
- Usumino (100% kozo)
- Yamagampi
"Ruin Spread" 2008. Reg Beatty
(Seichosen kozo)
Swatch sheets of 16 of these Heritage Washi are available from washi@japanesepaperplace.comCost including postage 12.00, with price list.
For consideration by Art of the Book 2018 jurors for this award, entries must utilize a minimum of 50% Heritage Washi and be accompanied by the name(s) of Japanese papers used.