Our Story — Hexpaper: paper for hand letterers &

Why we started Hexpaper.

We started this shop because we were tired of guessing. Both of us letter for a living. For years we mail-ordered tissue-thin sheets from Tokyo, swapped notes with a binder in Andong, and tested every new pad on our studio bench. Most of the advice we found felt gatekept. So we wrote our own.

Hexpaper is the simple result. We import the sheets we trust. We test them under the same markers our customers use. We ship a free sample card with every first order, so nobody pays to find out a paper feathers under their nib.

That last line is the whole shop, in one sentence. No trial and error on your dime. If a paper does not earn shelf space in our own studio, it does not earn it on yours.

We are still small. Two founders, one part-time packer, and a Brooklyn studio that smells faintly of indigo ink and warm cotton.

“Curation is a form of care. Every sheet on this site is one we would buy, write on, and recommend to a friend. Nothing here is paid placement.”

The Hexpaper editorial standard · Updated 2026

Sourcing · Three regions, hands-on tested

Where the papers come from.

We travel to mills. We meet binders. We bring stacks home in luggage. The catalogue grows slowly, on purpose. Right now it lives in three regions.

No. 01

Japan

Echizen · Shizuoka · Tokyo

Our oldest mill partners. Slow, even ink uptake. Tissue-thin sheets that hold wet ink like a sponge.

No. 02

Korea

Andong

Hand-pressed mulberry fibre. Long grain. A soft sheen no machine paper can fake.

No. 03

Germany

Bavaria · Black Forest

Heavy cotton stock from letterpress country. Pure rag. No glow under studio lamps.

House rules · Six standards we will not bend

How we run the shop.

No gatekeeping.

We answer beginner questions with the same care we give to working calligraphers. The studio door stays open.

II.

Samples ship free.

Every first order ships with a sample card. You feel the tooth. You test your nib. Then you choose.

III.

We test every sheet.

If a paper feathers under our daily markers, it does not earn shelf space. Period.

IV.

No paid placements.

We do not run sponsored posts or affiliate links. The recommendations on this site are ours.

Small, named runs.

We press limited editions twice a year, then stop. Each batch carries its own number and notes.

VI.

Founders read every email.

Two of us, both working artists. The reply you get is from someone who pulled the same nib through the same paper.

Imprint history · A short colophon

Five years, four landmarks.

2021
First import: a single roll of Tomoe River from a Tokyo stationer.
2022
Public catalogue opens with twelve papers and a free-sample pledge.
2024
Hexpaper №7 enters press in Tokyo. Three years of tuning the surface.
2026
Forty-seven papers in stock. Sixty percent of orders come from returning artists.

An invitation

Try a sheet on us.

The fastest way to know a paper is to mark on it. Order any starter set and we tuck a free sample card in the box. Pull a nib through it. See what holds.

Build your starter set →Read the journal →Email the founders →