Season's Greetings from Hiromi Paper!
This year has been filled with many thrilling changes. At this time last year we first announced that we would be moving; in February we did. Most of February was spent packing boxes and moving them into our new location at 9469 Jefferson Blvd in Culver City. The undertaking of moving a shop of any kind is no easy feat. With the help of friends and family, we were able to streamline the move (you can only imagine the pressure of relocating hundreds of thousands papers). By March 1st we were up and running at the new space. SGC 2017 took HPI staff to Atlanta in the middle of March to learn about and meet printmakers from all over the world. Later in March, Yuki and Hiromi led over a dozen participants through Japan during our biannual Washi Tour.
In April, acclaimed LA artist and friend Kenny Scharf painted our outside walls with his iconic imagery and shortly thereafter we had our House Warming party with an amazing turnout of customers and friends. The party also kicked off our special springtime sale. By May we felt at home and HPI staff visited Chicago for the annual AIC conservation conference. The summer months brought about a papermaking workshop at Craft & Folk Art Museum and the first of two bookbinding workshops (and first workshop in general) at our new location led by Rebecca Chamlee.
The Autumn months saw our second big change this year: the launch of our new website for which we've been taking into account and appreciating all of the feedback received. In October we led our first ever Hiromi Paper MEGA Workshop; the popularity of our Kite Making and Orizome Dyeing workshop with kite master Mikio Toki was astronomical and subsequently grew from 12 participants to nearly 40.
October also led us to the Guild of Bookworkers meeting in Tacoma Washington where we got to meet some of the most talented bookmakers in the country. In December we participated in a local vendors fair at ALLEM, a Japanese and Spanish language immersion school in Culver City were we were able to introduce ourselves to many new friends. The new year will kick off with a stint in Philadelphia for the CBAA conference and vendor fair and the return of Bill Schultz for our Washi Backing Workshops in January and February. Thank you so much for yet another wonderful year.
From World of Washi, we wish you a warm winter and a joyful New Year.
-HPI Staff