I first talk with Paula Lishman in Ontario, where she lives in the earth-integrated house that husband Bill built. Married 34 years, she describes him as "a true Renaissance man"; his Web site explains just why.
Now I am following a delicate furry trail through Canada Place in Tokyo's Akasaka to where -- with the help of agent Yutaka Tsubota -- she is presenting her new collection of fur knits for Paula Lishman International.
"I grew up in Goose Bay, Labrador, where native people wore skins with fur turned to the inside," she begins. "The thing about being raised in a remote northern community is that it makes you very independent. We made our own bread, cut our own hair. It's a totally different lifestyle; no 'running to the store.' "