Since receiving an MS from Kyoto Institute of Technology in the late 1960s, Kyoko Ibe has pioneered contemporary washi art and design, and worked in more than 20 countries. The recipient of numerous awards worldwide, Ibe has pushed the limits of washi into a unique art form, combining her respect for tradition with radical experimentation. She is now a professor at Kyoto Institute of Technology, the director of Japan Paper Academy, and a special advisor to the government of Japan for cultural affairs.

Lynn Sures is Professor of Fine Arts at the Corcoran College of Art + Design in Washington, DC. Her pulp paintings, prints, and sculptural paperworks have been written about in Art in America, Fiberarts, and Hand Papermaking; her artist books appear in Penland Book of Handmade Books and 500 Artist Books. She has traveled within the US and to Italy, Japan, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey to exhibit, lecture, and offer workshops on hand papermaking.

Mandy Coppes-Martin is one of the founding members of the Phumani Paper Project (a poverty alleviation programme in South Africa). She has been involved in various outreach and paper-training initiatives in South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Germany and Belgium since 1999. Her MA in Fine Art focused on the research and development of local and invasive plant fibres. Mandy is a full-time paper artist based at the Newtown Artist-Run Centre at Assemblage in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Peter Ford specialises in artwork with paper and on paper – in particular etching, woodcuts, and print processes of his own invention. In 1994 he began making paper with the tutelage and encouragement of Maureen Richardson and he continues to discover new ways of combining print and his own paper, sometimes on a large scale. His prints and paperworks are represented in public and private collections worldwide. He has made several working visits to China and soon will be artist-in-residence at Ningbo Art Museum, near Shanghai.

Radha Pandey is a papermaker and letterpress printer. She earned her MFA in Book Arts from the University of Iowa Center for the Book where she was a recipient of the Iowa Arts Fellowship. She has studied Western and Asian Papermaking techniques with Timothy Barrett and teaches book arts classes in India and the US. Her artist bookwork has been exhibited in the US and abroad. Her interest in the history of papermaking led her to research creating stop-motion animations using watermarks, and she is currently working on such a project in collaboration with artist Brian Queen.

Italian artist Roberto Mannino works in sculpture, relief, printmaking, and installation. He often uses the papermaking process to converge various disciplines. Mannino started working in handmade paper in 1995. As an art educator, he has taught at various US colleges (Cornell, Temple, Loyola, RISD) and in Rome where he lives. He has taught workshops on 3D and relief papermaking in the US (Dieu Donné, Cooper Union, MICA, Pyramid Atlantic) and at various institutions throughout Europe.

Simon Barcham Green’s family have been papermaking since at least 1812 and he made his first certified sheet by hand in 1955. He has a BSc in Paper Science from the University of Manchester and joined the business at Hayle Mill in 1968 which he later ran until 1987. He has provided professional papermaking consultancy in India, the Philippines, Bhutan, Kenya, and the UK; and seems to be in constant contact with papermakers, artists, and other users around the world.

Simon Blattner lives and works in Sonoma, California. After a long career in the printing, paper, and fine arts industries, Blattner is investing in the occasional real estate transaction and volunteering in non-profit activities. He is President of the Board of the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art. From 1985 to 1995 he was a papermaker at Magnolia Editions and later founded Eastside Editions, where he made handmade paper and small intaglio editions.

Therese Hofmann is a professor of fine art at the University of Brasilia in Brazil.

Timothy Barrett is an associate professor in the University of Iowa Center for the Book and the School of Library and Information Science. Barrett serves as director of the UICB where he also oversees the papermaking curriculum, and related production and research programs.