Growing numbers of artists and designers in Britain are exploring the potential of handmade Japanese paper as a new material with which to work, according to artist Elaine Cooper, one of the very few foreign experts in the field.
Cooper, 55, spent 10 years in Mino, Gifu Prefecture. She learned how to make washi by hand and is now extolling the virtues of this versatile art form to a wider public.
She says as British designers increasingly look east for inspiration they are moving away from traditional mediums and aiming for something different, like washi.