SIWA Paper Accessories

This collection, called SIWA, is produced by the Onao paper company in Japan and designed by superstar industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa. The remarkable aspect is the paper itself, developed by Onao, which doesn’t rip, is highly water-resistant and can carry heavy loads (tested for up to 10 kgs/ 22 lbs). SIWA, pronounced shiwa, means ‘wrinkle’ in Japanese and is also a play on the word for washi, the traditional Japanese paper for which Onao is known. Onao is a family run company, with more than 150 years of papermaking history. Based in Yamanishi, a rural area near Mt. Fuji, Onao still operates Japan’s oldest (and, they like to point out, slowest) paper machine where the paper is cut off the wheel by hand.