Washi Paper

_{^{This is a casual exploration of consumer psychology through my own introspection, and the item itself is irrelevant insofar as it sheds light on my own bias.}}

One of my least graceful decisions in 2020 was purchasing a fifty-count package of white paper for seventy-five dollars. To put this in perspective, a five-hundred pack of white paper currently sells on Amazon, Target and Bestbuy for under ten dollars total. The same package of Washi paper itself sells for under twenty on Amazon. As someone with a well-earned reputation for buying only what I need and for taking great care to evaluate value on the basis of quality and price, this was way out of step for me.

But there I was exiting the store with a stupid grin on my face making my descent down the stairwell even waving goodbye to the store owner. It wasn’t until I got home and my partner picked up my receipt and looked up at me in pure astonishment when I realized, what had I done?

Was there a drug lurking in the air the shop impairing my thinking and then luring open my wallet?

The feeling in this shop was that of pure pleasure. The style was minimalism and every item, plate, bowl and lampshade seemed perfectly situated. Inspiration was at its peak when I spotted a display of watercolor paint with a brush packaged neatly in a woven box. This was during a covid lockdown in Tel Aviv and it was my first time in a store after several weeks. It was the right time to try my hand at painting so I brought it to the front where the shy store owner stood and realizing I had no paper, I asked if he had any. He gestured toward a table and said “we have hand-woven Washi.” There stood a single pack of paper, a fine white light shining over it like it were the legendary Koh-I-Noor diamond itself.

Never until this moment had I valued paper so highly. In this moment, all I wanted was this paper. Only handwoven paper for the princess who has never laid her finger on a paint brush in her life.

I’d like to better understand the factors that drove up my valuation, or lack thereof, in this moment. It was an impulsive decision to buy watercolors, after all. The paper was secondary.

Likely influential factors:

• The store’s design favorably influenced my mood, ripening it for inspiration.
• It was a complementary good to watercolors which I already decided to purchase
• Low supply due to covid lockdown restrictions may have pushed up my perception of actual price
• Being told that the paper was “handwoven” gave the perception of high quality
• Lastly, I was in a different country and that may have imparted uncertainty with regard to price level expectations

tbc

Japanese Washi Paper: