When leading arts and research institutions like the Rhode Island School of Design and Library of Congress need to restore centuries-old prints and manuscripts, Providence-based Paper Connection International LLC is one of the few importers that can supply the materials they need.
Founded nearly three decades ago by Lauren Pearlman Sugita, Paper Connection offers a range of handmade and specialty papers sourced from around the world.
“We’re one of maybe three who import in a very culturally sensitive way in the whole [of] North America,” Pearlman Sugita said, “and we happen to be in Providence. There are very few of us who do this unusual business.”
Over the years, Pearlman Sugita has carved out a stronghold in this specialty sector and estimates that she stocks at least a million sheets of paper locally. More than half of the store’s paper comes from Japan, but Pearlman Sugita also sources from countries such as Korea, Nepal, China, the Philippines and Mexico.
Last year, Pearlman Sugita began renting a second space in Pawtucket to account for much of this stock, while the original location on the East Side of Providence serves as a by-appointment shop and showroom.
“We’re trying to provide unique and high-quality items not just to individual artists but also to museums, art suppliers like the RISD store, and sometimes museums and libraries,” Pearlman Sugita said.
On average, her sales run about $8 to $10 per sheet but can range from around $3 to $50 per sheet.
In addition to serving as a warehouse, the Pawtucket location hosts workshops dedicated to “teaching people the tradition” of papermaking “and why it’s so unique and important to go into the future,” Pearlman Sugita said.
Attendees “also get a hands-on experience, which is sort of mind-changing,” she added. “It’s very relaxing, and very meditative ... I want people to enjoy it as much as I do.”
Pearlman Sugita began making her own paper in the 1990s and brings in master papermakers to lead the classes. Pearlman Sugita and her collaborators also host international papermaking conferences and trade shows in Rhode Island.
Pearlman Sugita first became interested in papermaking when she lived in Japan in the 1980s but didn’t think of making a career in the specialty until she worked for a paper store in Boston during the following decade.
Though she continues to make paper, Pearlman Sugita doesn’t typically sell her own products, preferring to curate and showcase the skills of the makers she imports from.
“Once you touch it, it’s like a textile,” Pearlman Sugita said of the specialty papers. “The pulp gets under your skin, and, in particular, handmade paper really exudes a soul or a story of the person who made it. ... The beauty speaks for itself.”
While parts of the modern paper economy have taken a toll on the natural world, Pearlman Sugita said the traditional approaches that produce Paper Connection’s stock work in harmony with the environment.
“The good news is that we’re not cutting down trees to make most of this paper,” Pearlman Sugita said.
Instead, the store’s artisans primarily work with materials such as mulberry bush and varieties of daphne that aren’t made from wood or can be acquired without killing trees.
And at the end of the process, “someone harvested, processed then cooked and made [these materials] into pulp,” Pearlman Sugita said, “and made a sheet of paper that’s amazingly close to perfect.”
OWNER: Lauren Pearlman Sugita
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Specialty paper imports and distribution
LOCATIONS: 166 Doyle Ave., 2nd floor, Providence, and 999 Main St., Unit #109, Pawtucket
EMPLOYEES: Four
YEAR FOUNDED: 1995
ANNUAL REVENUE: WND
