Sustainable...we hear it all the time. But what does it mean? Sustainability is a complex subject, but basically it is the capacity to endure. We all want that!

We wanted to tell you about a company that has committed themselves to an eco-friendly production of cards, boxes and wrap. They have gone the extra kilometer. Smock creates beautiful letterpress cards on bamboo paper! This soft paper is luxuriously thick which responds to the letterpress printing process beautifully. Bamboo is a plant that does not require pesticides or fertilizers to grow. And surprisingly, bamboo generates substantially more oxygen than hardwood trees and absorbs four times as much carbon. Smock also use only vegetable oil based and low VOC inks.

We have discovered some great goodies for you and thought you might like something new to play with!

We are very excited about these new handmade Nepalese papers. Each silk screened in gorgeous patterns or designs.

Colors are rich and often accented with gold and silver. We find them inspiring! We also find the company inspiring. The company that make these papers are registered with following organization of local craftsman and fully comply with the Trade rules and regulation, Labor Act, and Environment standards defined.  

• Handicraft Association of Nepal
   
• Handmade Paper Association of Nepal
• Women Entrepreneurs Association of Nepal
   
• Chamber of Commerce & Industries 
   
• Nepal German Chamber of Commerce and Industry  

Here is a sample of special treasures you can only find at our store. Ethically made. So uniquely Paper-Ya, so uniquely yours

Looking for unique items that you just cannot find anywhere else? That's Paper-Ya's specialty. From handmade bag, pillow, and one-of-a-kind design from around Canada and US, to sustainably made plush stuffed toys and ornaments, Paper-Ya is proud to carry all these unique offerings. It's our passion to find you these unique treasures. The only downside? They are in limited quantity since these are proudly North American made. No sweatshop factory and foreign cheap labour are used, thank you very much.

Paper-Ya has had a long and special relationship with Japan and its people. On Saturday the 26 we will donate our profits to the Red Cross for Japan

When we first opened our doors the majority of our products and papers were made in Japan. We also know first hand how industrious, hardworking and fun the Japanese are because we have had the pleasure of working with many Japanese employees at Paper-Ya.

Today we continue to enjoy the Japanese style, quality and often whimsical component they put into the things they make. On Saturday the 26 we will donate our profits to the Red Cross for Japan to help support them in this very difficult time. 

Cover your Moleskine and other clever ideas!

While pretty journals and notebooks may come and go, we're big believers in the classics as well. So are many of our store's visitors, which is why one of the most common questions we're asked is, Where do you keep your Moleskines?
A local leather-working company must also have come to the same conclusion, that sometimes it's best to go with what's always worked, when they decided to handcraft these super-durable, amazingly beautiful, not to mention clever, Moleskine notebook covers. They also must have had the die-hard fans in mind, because this design holds all three of the notebooks in the Moleskine paper cover three-pack at once. Perfect for easy organization.

If you're not a paper cover lover, there's also a design for your soft cover pocket sized Moleskine, with slots for loose notes, business cards, to do lists, whatever. These leather covers are the perfect way to protect as well as jazz up your old faithful notebook. We also brought in the accompanying business card holders, glasses and pencil cases, and coin purses from these leather masters.

Isn't Father's Day coming up sooner than you think?

An inspiring artistic exploration is often the perfect union of materials and image. Bruce Monk uses high quality Japanese washi to create some of his most stunning photographs.

Bruce, is a photographer, and has been creating fine art photography since 1987. His works are in many personal collections, exhibited internationally and are in the permanent collection of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography. Bruce’s work has been featured in campaigns for both Leica and Hasselblad cameras and used in films as diverse as “Vanilla Sky” and “Two For The Money”. Here is what he has to say about his process...

"After 30 years of traditional and alternative darkroom printmaking I have been on the receiving end of numerous discontinued photographic papers, I switched to a paper that has both the beauty and durability required for photographic reproduction. Most interesting of the 20 or so fine art papers that functions well as a photographic paper is Gampi tissue {12-20 gsm}, with careful treatment it can withstand coating, drying, development, clearing, washing and drying and finally produces an image with more clarity and depth than conventional papers.

The paper does present some challenges on its route to beauty, in particular it needs to be supported on mylar sheets throughout the wet processes, plus getting the paper to dry flat after a 20 minute wet cycle is challenging and requires a book making press or large perfectly flat weights.

To further enhance the dynamic range of the image, the paper is backed with 24kt Gold leaf. Light penetrates thru the image and is subtly reflected off the Gold on the back of the print and bounces back to the viewer, behaving more like a gemstone than an opaque surface. The resulting image has a depth and resonance that is unmatched by any other process.

This process was originally called an Orotone and was discovered over 100 years ago, when photographs where often printed on glass plates and then backed with gold. My version of this process does not reinvent the wheel but hopefully makes it less fragile."

Bruce Monk, a graduate of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School, is a choreographer and a former dancer with the Company and has been teaching in the RWB School Professional Division for 23 years.