Manabu Hangai

Hangai lives near a nature reserve on Hokkaido, the most northern island of Japan. His regular walks on the island not only inspire him, he also collects wood, bark and bamboo which he uses for his artworks. Hangai makes his own paper. He uses ‘hosojuzumo’, a seaweed species collected for him by a local fisherman. It is easy to work up. It needs to be washed, soften, boiled and finally to be grinded to give the pulp its cohesion. Hangai uses a basic form of twigs and hemp on which he applies the pulp. After being dried he colours the paper and ads acrylic as a finish. --website