October 26, 2009
Karikomi – Japanese abstract topiary – from the ever-interesting ii-ne-kore blog out of Australia by way of Japan. “ii ne kore is a shorthand version of kore wa ii desu ne, an expression of appreciation or delight in japanese.” That is how I feel when I look at these.
October 3, 2009
If you’re in Vancouver and are interested in Arthur Erickson’s ties with Japan (and by extension Japan’s influence on west coast modernism), it’s worth ordering tickets for this event now. It will sell out.
September 11, 2009
“Our lighting is hand-built in Japan from natural materials, including the hand-made paper (washi) of Eriko Horiki, the bent Japanese cedar of Toshiyuki Tani’s Wappa series, the coiled beech wood of the Bunaco Lacquer Ware Company, and the todomatsu pine slats of Takumi Kohgei.
August 30, 2009
This house is called the Yakisugi or “charred cedar” house. Japanese architect Terunobu Fujimori is using a traditional Japanese technique of charring as a way to finish and preserve wood. See another charcoal house by Fujimori here.
August 19, 2009
This Japanese boro (futon cover) was made in the 19th century by recycling remnants of indigo dyed cotton and joining them together. It’s so well-made that it’s still in perfect condition.
July 13, 2009
Thanks to photographers Molly Des Jardin (cat slide), Ethan and Kohmura Masao (Fomal Haut) for these photos of rural Japanese houses. So few materials, so harmoniously put together. Many of the photos are from an open air museum in Japan, where traditional houses from different regions have been transported and reconstructed.
July 10, 2009
It shouldn’t be that difficult; it comes apart. The owner residents of Tokyo’s famous Nakagin Capsule Tower have voted to demolish it and rebuild a “modern” tower on the same location, which is now a valuable property adjacent to the Ginza district.
May 20, 2009
The Chen House in North Taiwan, design and constructed by Finnish architect Marco Casagrande and Taiwanese architect Frank Chen, was built for an older couple who wanted to retire to the country and grow bamboo and cherry trees – on a flood plain also beset by hurricanes and earthquakes.
May 18, 2009
Takashi Iwasaki‘s March show in Vancouver was postponed, so we’re doing our own little show here. Iwasaki, who was born in Japan and studied in both Japan and Canada, also produces paintings and drawings but it’s his embroideries that are particularly interesting, not just because it’s nice to see embroidery being done by a male artist, but also because of their unconventional, non-fussy style – he somehow bends the medium to make embroidery lines appear loosely hand-painted or drawn, so that there’s an interesting disjunction between method and effect.
April 2, 2009
The photo above shows the central living area of a rural farmhouse on the border of Tochigi and Ibaraki prefectures. The house was restored by Kenji Tsuchisawa who bought it as a rundown heap when he was only 20, after seeing a photograph of a traditional Japanese farmhouse on a Tokyo magazine cover.
