Paper is one of those special things in our everyday lives.  On one hand it's extremely common and simple... we use and touch paper everyday.  On the other hand, paper is exotic and complex; one of those products where the more trivial and exotic paper facts you learn, the more unanswered questions you realize you still have.

I sell paper for a living, supplying local retail stores with exotic (and some not so exotic) papers from around the world.  While the primary purpose of this web site is to provide information to my customers, everyone who has paper questions is welcome to access the information at my site.

This web site isn't here to sell paper.  There is no pricing information, no way to place orders.  The purpose of this site is simply to provide information and answer questions about the papers I sell.  "What does it cost?" you ask?  You've come to the wrong place, but the sheet size is 27x39", the weight is 160 g/m, it's 40% cotton, pH neutral, manufactured in Italy, and recommended for pastel and charcoal drawing but also suitable for...".  Call your local paper store for pricing, or if you are the local paper store, contact the supplier or your local rep.

Every day I hear from one of my customers that they were unable to locate the technical information they needed to answer a question for one of their customers.  Finding specific paper information can be a real pain.  The different papers in stores come from a variety of sources, some which provide complete information, and some who don't.  Sometimes a store doesn't have the information they need.  Other times it's temporarily misplaced.  Often it's too late in the day to call and ask an expert.  The result is the same; a paper customer goes away without the answer they were looking for.  Hopefully this web site addresses that situation by providing the technical information that you, my customers, need, via the internet, over your computers (much more difficult to misplace than yet another piece of paper) 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

About Myself:

My name is Peter Overpeck and I am a manufacturers' representative based in Southern California.  I work with several companies representing some of the finest quality product lines of art supplies in the world.

Although I  sell a wide variety of artists' materials, my web page project is focused on papers.  I represent five different paper companies, all with different focuses within the world of paper. 

The very first company I ever represented, and still do, is the Bee Paper Co.    Bee Paper features commercial art papers, like bond, bristol, and tracing papers, as well as fine art papers for drawing, pen and ink, and watercolor, plus specialty papers like stencil board, graphite paper, colored foils, graph papers, carbon papers, coquille, glassine, oatmeal, and gray bogus papers.

The second paper company I became involved with, and the first to offer decorative papers, is Savoir Faire.  When I first started with the company, I was shocked at the concept of any paper sheet retailing for $5.00.  Quickly I realized how naive I was.  Savoir Faire's paper selection has grown from the handful we offered then to the amazing selection we offer now.  Today Savoir Faire is the North American agent for Fabriano, Italy's premier paper mill.  Fabriano has been manufacturing paper since the thirteenth century, ever since Marco Polo brought home the secrets of paper production on one of his many trips to China.  In addition, Savoir Faire represents the Larroque paper mill which produces a lovely line of hand made papers from France,   Lama Li papers handmade in Nepal, and other specialty papers like Le Carte Pastel from Sennelier, and Mini Micro fluted cardboards.  Savoir Faire recently became the U.S. agent for the Awagami Factory of Japan.

A few years later I joined up with Black Ink, a new company at the time, importing exotic papers from around the world from far away places including Egypt, Japan, and Thailand.  At that time our comprehensive international paper line consisted of less than 100 selections.  Today Black Ink offers over 500 papers from many paper mills on four continents and a couple of islands, as well as a growing line of business and social stationery.  Recently Black Ink was purchased by Graphic Products Corporation, the people who import Wyndstone papers from Japan.

Around that same time, I was introduced to the Aitoh Co.  Aitoh is best known for having the widest variety of origami papers in the known world, but also imports a few very unique decorative papers.  Their line of morishita lace patterns is totally unique, along with their series of rayon lace papers with metallic inclusions in eight different colors.  They also offer a few other specialty Japanese papers, plus a beautiful range of Yuzen prints.

Very recently I found the Green Field Paper Company.  This  company, located in San Diego California,  actually has their own paper mill.   Part of their line is locally hand made, and the entire line is made of environmentally friendly papers.  From recycled hemp fibers to organically grown cotton, or recycled pulp with garlic, tea leaf, or coffee chaff inclusions,  this is a line of papers I was happy to add to my collection.  

Acknowledgements:         

Much of the information on this Web Site is taken directly from information provided by the companies which I represent.  The Black Ink Product Information brochure, and the Savoir Faire 1999 Catalog are two of my primary sources.   Additional information  comes from other sources including Words On Paper from Champion Paper, and brochures and swatchbooks from converters including Bee Paper, and paper mills including Fabriano and Green Field.  Sometimes I come across conflicting versions of paper lore, and even use the Legion Paper catalog as a source to verify information.  My most important source is the many friends I have with extensive, first hand paper knowledge whom I rely on endlessly for much of the information contained here.