At a studio nestled in the woods in Saitama Prefecture, where it is quiet enough to hear the sound of a nearby stream, a 63-year-old man carefully tilts a wood-framed screen to create the traditional paper known as "washi."

It is not an uncommon scene in a country where the craft of making handmade paper is still practiced nationwide -- until you find that the man is not Japanese and that his work has helped people rediscover the beauty of washi.

Richard Flavin, a Boston native who has been living in Japan for about 35 years, crafts a variety of washi artworks, from abstract collages to woodblock prints, interior crafts and quilt covers.