Nov
10
I absolutely love to go antiquing. I haven’t graduated to full-blown cottage country kind of excursions, but I will try and get to the shows circulating in the city. Two shows I try not to miss are the Toronto Postcard Club Annual Postcard Show and the other is the Heritage Antique Market–a market which circulates within the shopping malls of the GTA.
My love of art and design usually pulls me toward paper ephemera, which so far, is the only thing my budget can accommodate. (The Sherman brooches and the Raymond Peynet Rosenthal will have to wait.) Postcards, photographs, book plates and recipe cards are my weakness. (I know, I know.) But on my last trip however, I diverged and bought a magazine (a big no-no in my world, since I indulge in mags like I would in potato chips) because I couldn’t think of leaving the May 1963 issue of ’Teen (pictured above) behind. Read more
Sep
16
Nancy moved into the Brock Avenue warehouse and expanded. The industrial building was to be the hub of The Japanese Paper Place. Teachers, conservators and artists are regulars.
International business is ever-increasing. During the week of my visit, the shop has shipped to Greece, Turkey, England, Finland and the States. There are customers in Australia, South Africa, Iceland, Korea and more. From time-to-time trips to Japan are necessary to meet with suppliers. Finally, Nancy is able to focus on the side of the business she enjoys the most: travel!
Years ago, a young woman thought of a place where foreign papers could be sold. A place where if people “could see and handle the paper, they too would believe in it and like it.” Through perseverance, positivity and passion, the same principles endured and an institution was born. First in Toronto, and then, around the world.
Despite the changes on Queen Street, the concept of The Japanese Paper Place, never fell out of vogue. And the rules for living? Their story to be told. Read more
Sep
11
The street started to define an upcoming, tony neighborhood. Head-hunters replaced hippies as the new working order. The crowd was younger and the artists were older. When the American retailers moved in, it became obvious: there was no going back.
At The Japanese Paper Place, two kinds of business had developed: the scrapbooking set and the experienced artists. One group needed help coordinating paper and card; the other, the subtle qualities of the paper. Satisfying both types of clients well, proved difficult. More importantly, for Nancy, the store was moving in a direction away from her original intent. In the end, she would have to decide on how to support the people she felt most comfortable with–the older established community of artists–while someone else, better equipped, could look after the Blackberry bunch. Someone possibly younger. Preferred crooner over choral. Capable to revitalize the atmosphere in the store, once again. Read more
Sep
8
Nancy had a small one-unit in an Artists Co-Op on Noble Street. The Japanese Paper Place worked out of these quarters until some realty freed up on Queen West, not far from the Co-Op. A futon store had become for rent. The space was ideal. Nancy would take it.
In the new locale, business thrived. Distribution grew, locally and internationally. Workshops were being added and updated all the time. Teachers, from everywhere, started to arrive.
The shop was developing a reputation.
Artists weren’t the only patrons. The general public was making their way too. The store had become an enclave of a greater phenomena: North America’s fascination with Asian culture.
Suddenly, the Japanese sensation had caught on.
East meets West, meets west.
West on Queen.
Nancy, made it possible. Read more
Sep
5
In 1982 Nancy returned from a trip to Europe. Her longterm relationship had ended. She had little to no money.
And so, as was always the case with Nancy, she started to invest in the “power of positive thinking.”
A shop had become vacant on Queen Street west. A small space, “in no man’s land,” right across from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Next door was a paint shop. The rent was cheap. Three hundred dollars. It was somewhere people could discover. Nancy saw it as being successful. She considered a name that reflected the business of what she was doing. She called it, “The Japanese Paper Place.” There was an opening. Kindred spirits were invited.
Immediately, workshops were underway. People had to learn about the properties of the paper. Lampshade making, bookbinding and portfolio classes grew popular. Don Taylor was one of the first instructors.
Artists found a rare resource. They embraced the tools, and Nancy embraced them. Artistic activity was constant. A community had formed. The Japanese Paper Place was fulfilling its mission: “to support local creativity through Japanese papers and products.”
It does so to this day.
Business, was good. Five years after opening, Nancy, with her neighbor, bought the building. Then, there was the fire. Read more
Sep
2
As a child, Nancy amused herself with coloured pieces of construction paper. She collected streetcar transfers, which at the time, were issued in different colours. As she grew up, she started and kept up with, her own newspaper. Books filled her, and she filled books. She was a paper lover. Although she may have not known it then, Nancy’s passion for paper would set the course of her adult life.
In 1975, Nancy did something that was uncommon at that time. Like many of today’s youth, searching for “an experience,” entering their quarter-life crisis, Nancy went to Japan to teach English. She stayed for a year and loved it. Loved it so much that she returned over and over again.
During her visits, Nancy discovered the aesthetic of Japanese paper. She was enthralled. Teaching wasn’t so important anymore. The paper had taken hold. Read more
Aug
29
Nancy Jacobi is an extraordinary woman. She is the kind of person that when you meet once you wish to remain in the company of for forever. She is understanding, intelligent, insightful and passionate; liberally offering words of encouragement to those who meet her. In some ways, she is familiar, like an old friend is familiar. There is a kind of ease about Nancy, that is more kind than modest, poetic, but also practical, and overall, genuinely, authentic. Nancy brought all things Japanese to Toronto, and then the world. She is the founder of The Japanese Paper Place. Read more
Aug
26
A couple of years ago, I noticed a popular paper shop in Toronto, The Japanese Paper Place, with a new sign out front, The Paper Place. Curious, I walked into the shop, not only finding an old acquaintance of mine working in the shop, but also co-owner of the revamped store. As it turned out, Nancy Jacobi, owner and founder of The Japanese Paper Place, set shop as a supplier and resource for artists in her Brock Avenue offices, and sold her existing Queen West retail business to her senior managers, Kevin Anderson and Heather Sauer.
Fascinated with the new storefront, the new business and the new guard (or guards, in this case) I probed further as to what future Nancy envisioned for her original business, mission and creative goals, as she left one pursuit for another. What I found was a remarkable story about a person who believed that anything was possible, that artists were essential in creating a community, and the art the artists created was part of building a thriving, world-class city.
Originally, I had written this article for the Devil’s Artisan. Unfortunately however, I somehow managed to mix-up my writing deadline and missed my window for the editorial lineup. (To this day, I feel awful about that!)
Although this profile remains as a draft, and the information is suspect to fact-checking and an update (The Japanese Paper Place has celebrated a few more birthday since its twenty-fifth year in business) I’m including my findings below, in parts, for two reasons. First, I feel Nancy’s lifework and contribution to the arts, worldwide, should have an audience (one that extends beyond my hard drive). Second, for anyone struggling with a dream or where to start, I want to emphasize the importance of the extraordinary possibility of an idea–no matter how unusual (original!) or arbitrary (opportunity!) it may be, since it is usually that very auspicious thought that’s one for the books! Read more
