Famed industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa teamed up with Japanese washi paper maker ONAO to create the unique Siwa series of products. Located in Ichikawamisato in Yamanishi Prefecture, ONAO's history in papermaking spans a thousand years. Over the centuries, the company has perfected the art of washi paper. They developed "soft naoron," a paper that consists of wood pulp and polyolefin and is made using the washi-suki paper manufacturing method. This creates a material that is not only water and tear proof, but similar to leather. Fukasawa discovered that the special texture of naoron paper could be enhanced by crumpling it, and suggested designs for everyday goods such as pencil cases and wallets that would make use of this feature.
These washi products are lovingly, individually, crafted, maintain durability, and embrace the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. The name SIWA is both a reversing of the characters in the word washi (wasi), and a word meaning "crinkle" in Japanese.
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