[Siwa, Everyday Japanese "Washi"]

A shoji is a traditional Japanese fixture, a sliding door with a wooden frame covered with Japanese paper. Shoji partitions a room while allowing light to pass through, bringing soft brightness. The transparency of the washi creates an open space while blocking the line of sight, and is a unique combination of beauty and functionality in Japanese dwellings. Furthermore, shoji screens are also an ingenious way to enjoy the natural light of the four seasons, and even today they are popular as part of Japanese-style interior design.

Onao, a washi manufacturer in Ichikawa Daimon, Yamanashi Prefecture, a washi production center with a thousand-year history, has developed “Naoron,” a tear-resistant paper for shoji screens. Naoto Fukasawa, one of Japan's leading industrial designers who has worked on designs for MUJI, noticed the texture created by crumpling this Naoron, and proposed a design for an everyday product that makes use of the material's gentleness. The brand name “Siwa” means “paper wrinkle” and the opposite reading of “washi,” meaning “paper harmony." Washi is carefully refined and produced one by one as if sewing leather.

Siwa offers products designed to make things that are usually disposable long-lasting. For example, the “String & Button Close Envelope” is a string envelope that is usually disposable, but is designed to be used over and over again. It has a wide gusset to hold documents and small items, and can hold 500 sheets of A4 copy paper.

The other is a “clutch bag” designed as a paper bag. By rolling up the lid and fastening it with a snap button, the bag can be carried while retaining its cute paper bag shape. This is a wonderful item as a going-out paper bag that can be used over and over again.

Both products use “Soft Naoron,” a proprietary paper made from wood pulp and polyolefin fiber and produced using the Japanese paper-making process. The paper is characterized by its soft and supple texture, and is tear-resistant and water-resistant. It is also an environmentally friendly material because it does not emit toxic gases when burned. Why not incorporate washi products developed from Japanese shoji screens into your daily life?

Siwa's String & Button Close Envelope
https://www.shokunin.com/en/siwa/himo.html
Siwa's Clutch Bag
https://www.shokunin.com/en/siwa/clutchbag.html