About our shoji

Our shoji are made by hand and can come with handmade traditional Japanese washi paper. Contact us if you are interested in buying a screen or ordering a bespoke screen to your own measurements.

In the Japanese house there are two types of these sliding panels: shoji and fusama. Both possess a structural skeleton of light wooden strips arranged in a rectangular pattern, framed by somewhat stronger stiles and rails. But whilst fusama are covered on both sides with heavy duty paper, shoji are pasted with translucent paper only on one side.

The function of the translucent paper panel, shoji, is to close off or partition internal space where light is wanted. Our shoji are currently based on traditional design although we are also keen to explore new ways of their integration into a modern Western environment.

As a standard design, we offer the “common shoji,” for which “kumiko”, which create the wood strip skeleton of the shoji on which the paper is applied, form a simple rectangular grid above the “hipboard” at the bottom.

Most shoji lattices are rectangular. According to the organisation of the skeleton of the shoji, three major types have emerged, each of which have several variations.

As traditionally is the case in Japan, our shoji require no other finish to be applied to the wood, other than that left by the polished finish achieved with the Japanese hand plane, “kanna”.

We have a source of high quality quarter sawn Hinoki from Japan and can make your shoji in this material if required. For the paper, handmade washi can be offered for translucent diffusion of light.

Shoji 'Kawa' design.