Thirty years ago Charllotte Kwon formed a company and opened a shop. The shop was located in a new community of artisans that had formed on Granville Island. The Island, through its concentration of fine artists, printers, bookbinders, papermakers, potters, theatres, retailers, students, and industry, redefined itself as the cultural heart of Vancouver. The company was called Maiwa. In Cantonese and Mandarin “maiwa” is a word used to name the language through which art speaks. 

Maiwa. Beautiful language.

Halfway through our journey, in 2000, we published A Quiet Manifesto for the Preservation of Craft. The ideas that appeared in that tiny book have matured and blossomed. Our thirty-year anniversary seemed the perfect time to revisit those ideas.