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| Kristen Daniels, art and textile lover |
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Kamibashi (paper bridge) is the happy result of an English teaching career in Japan that put my husband Chris and I in direct contact with talented young Asian artists whose works we stumbled across and then immediately felt an affinity with.
In 2003, with our university teaching contracts more than half finished, we decided that, despite the 5 months of paid holidays and our attachment to our life in Kyoto, a move back to the US and a career change was a good idea… and so we started working on Kamibashi. It’s now August of 2007 and we’ve been back in the US for two full years, living in the countryside just outside of Asheville, NC (we’re both originally from Chicago). Life consists of bird watching, riding our bikes around the gorgeous NC hills, and supplying the best shops in the US with products and artwork that caught our eye while living abroad or on recent shopping trips back to Japan and Thailand. We love what we sell and find it irresistibly fun, and it turns out we’re not alone. Many thanks for your support and business – we couldn’t do it without you.
Whether you came here on purpose or just happened upon us by chance, I welcome you to the Kamibashi website. Stay as long as you like, and please come back often! Feel free to drop me a line as well – kristen@kamibashi.com – I'd be more than happy to hear from you.
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| Chris Daniels, hard at work between visits to the textile market |
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When he’s not teaching part-time at local universities, Chris Daniels, my husband and Kamibashi partner, is working hard behind the scenes to help make our little company a big success. Chris is the one updating the site when new news and new products appear — please visit us often to see what he has added! In addition to these important tasks, he also designs our marketing materials, and is our in-house photographer as well as the executor of a host of other important jobs that all must be done.
A writer by nature (and hopefully one day soon by profession), Chris has published several short stories in online literary magazines, and will be writing a good deal of the copy seen in updated versions of this site. For a sample of his colorful writing, see Minoji's bio on the Artisan's page.
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| Pupperoo – super cute 24/7 |
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Our shih tzu Pupperoo came into the fold last April when we brought her home from the breeder up the road as a 12-week-old pup. Today, the eve of her very first birthday (Feb. 25), she is a happy, playful, sweet sweet girl who greets everyone she meets as if she’s known them forever. If you’re ever in Asheville please come and visit the Kamibashi office for a good dose of love from the Pupperoo!
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| Rona – packer, shipper, and party facilitator all in one |
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Rona (aka Amy Harrington) is our right hand woman and our first full-time employee. Kamibashi recently moved most of our operations to a new office outside our home and we couldn’t be happier that Rona is the one in charge of it. She is now in complete control of daily shipping operations and each and every order we ship is touched by her hands. Needless to say, we would be lost without her.
Rona hails from Long Island, NY, arrived in Asheville about the same time we did, and is an artist by nature and training. When she’s not at Kamibashi, Rona can be found contra dancing and disseminating her public art project, “The Mixed Bag Series,” currently at Series 16. She is Fun with a capitol F and her favorite thing to do is throw a party. Thanks for being you Rona!
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| Deanna – reminding us what it was like to be young |
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Deanna is fresh out of college (ah, the days…) and originally hails from Richmond, VA. She moved here with her college roommate (the niece of our college friend), and after just 3 months she practically has us organized! She has also enthusiastically accepted the job of dogsitting Pupperoo when we’re out of town, and she was missed by all when she herself was at Toy Fair last week – her first ever trade show. If you didn’t meet her there then there’s a good chance that the next time you call she will answer the phone and you’ll get to meet her then!
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| Juli – the funnest mom in town! |
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Juli, in her first job since having 14-month-old Killian, is helping Rona out with the packing and shipping. She’s also now our “Thank You Note” writer to all of our website customers and is doing a great job making friends online! Originally from Maine, Juli and her husband Brendan landed in Asheville with their dogs King and Jack after a few years of life and skiing in Winter Park, CO. Welcome Juli!
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