Maruni creates decorative sheets imbued with Kyoto style and elegance known as karakami. Among Japan’s exquisite crafts, karakami is a more unusual one of natural-fiber paper printed with both subtle and bold patterns pressed from carved magnolia blocks. Artisanship lies in the maker’s hand wielding one essential tool, the furui—a circular muslin-covered frame that allows for careful absorption of moisture and controlled application of pigment across a block. The finished sheets bring ambience to walls, ceilings and partitions. Design objects can also readily incorporate karakami as natural embellishment.

In 1902 Maruni was founded as a workshop of paper mounters—the meticulous craft of framing paintings and scrolls in paper and textile formats. Thereafter, Maruni saw a special market in creating the decorative papers themselves. Karakami  [唐紙] reveals a rich history: Kara is the classical name for China from where the craft derived long ago; kara is also the Chinese character for Tang, as in the Tang Dynasty. The second character, kami, means paper. Maruni preserves the heritage of karakami in its keep of several hundred patterned woodblocks.