From DiscoverNikkei.org
Aiko Nakane
Japanese paper expert and the founder of Aiko's Art Materials (1908-2004)
Mrs. Aiko Nakane (1908-2004), the founder of Aiko’s Art Materials, was instrumental in bringing handmade Japanese paper and it’s aesthetic to the United States. Born in Seattle in 1908, Mrs. Nakane attended high school in Japan and was exposed to such traditional crafts as shodo (calligraphy) and ikebana (flower arranging.) In the early 1950’s, back in the United States as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago, Mrs. Nakane would give Japanese art supplies and papers as omiyage (gifts) to fellow students and friends in the art community upon returning from trips to Japan. Her friends loved the items and clamored for more – thus the beginning of her store, Aiko’s Art Materials. -- Excerpt from Aiko's Art Materials Import
- Aiko's Art Materials Import, Inc.
- Aiko Fellowship (Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts)
Related articles
- Sharen Linder, AIKO'S OF CHICAGO (Baren-suji, Vol. 11, January/February 2004)
- Jackie Cooperman, The Art of Japanese Paper: A 1,500-year history and a passionate contemporary following (Departure.com / American Express Publishing Corporation, November - December, 2002)