At the edge of Harajuku is Papier Labo, a pint-sized art supplies shop and design office. Shelves are lined with art postcards, calendars and notebooks, along with house-designed bookends, limited edition bric-a-brac and old curios like vintage Japanese type blocks.

With a couple of hard-at-work designers sitting behind the counter and upstairs in the loft, the shop mainly serves as a small showroom for Papier Labo’s own design and letterpress work. The designers here often collaborate with artists to create the original products on display, such as New Year cards for the 2019 zodiac year by woodblock artist Yuko Kan, or patterned cartons and illustrated stickers from artist Masanao Hirayama.

Papier Labo specializes in letterpress and embossing and can also produce engraved wooden and...