Paper is for drawing, wrapping, wiping, absorbing, sketching, crumpling, covering, tearing, soaking up, writing, throwing away.
But paper can be a beautiful and radical material for clothing; in longstanding cultural histories throughout Asia and the West and as a tool to critique the disposability of fashion.
This practice explores all the things that paper can offer as a material for design at the intersections of history, aesthetics, and function.
DNJ Paper is an award-winning research and design studio situated in Melbourne, Australia, and is led by designers Daphne Mohajer va Pesaran and Jake Nakashima-Edwards. We employ a range of techniques, both traditional and nontraditional, to create paper clothing, accessories, and objects. We aim to address pressing social, aesthetic, and conceptual questions from the perspective of fashion and textiles design.
We use handmade recycled rag paper, produced in our studio, as well as handmade Japanese paper, also known as washi. The washi is sourced from small studios located throughout Japan, and each sheet comes with comprehensive information on the conditions of its production.
Our pieces are considered a work in progress, never fully "finished," and are designed to evolve over time. The intention is to allow for wear, repair, and decay.
Wherever possible, we reduce, reuse, regenerate, and recycle.
Our work is designed and made in our studio in Naarm (Melbourne, Australia).
We acknowledge that the land on which we work and learn was never ceded from it’s traditional custodians, the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the Eastern Kulin Nations.
