Paper things

I admit it, I have (another) bit of a thing for Japanese paper things. I’m not the only one, I know. But I do make myself laugh; paying over the odds for strange paper things I have no utter use for. Except to put on a shelf, post on this blog and, generally, coo over.

I buy my bits of Japonisme in certain shops. Until I get to Japan in person, I have a mental map of shops where buyers have Japanese tendencies. Merci in Paris is one of my favourites. It’s also, apparently, a shop much beloved of fashionistas. But never mind that. Merci sell clothes, superlative kitchen bits, lights, objects and erm, pieces. And they have a nice corner or two with expensive, covetable bits of paperness.

This little folded paper box would have dropped lightly in to my basket just for its own sake. But – lo and behold – there was paper inside the paper. Small cardboard milk bottle lids, made into tags with a nice bit of linen thread.

The base of the paper box carries the name Yu Nakagawa. Not reading Japanese, my Google Translate tells me it is a Japanese shop (named along the lines of ‘factory shop’) selling crafty things for kitchens and other rooms. And my browsing eye tells me they sell lots of tasteful Japanese-y looking things I could well develop a fondness for.