Showing posts with label Design.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Design.. Show all posts

Monday, February 23, 2015

CLAUSTRUM- GROUND-BREAKING METAL DESIGN- TOKYO

TAKESHI ENDO / Designer, Founder 


GROUND-BREAKING METAL ITEMS FROM GIMZA TOKYO

"All of Claustrum’s items feature brand new functions that can be found nowhere else, including one-hand operation and smart motion. In addition to the physical realm, we also explore functions in terms of aesthetics, intellect, society, economy, and other fields. The results are put through a repeated cycle of trial manufacture, experiments, and trial use at the Ginza Factory until they can be realized in the simplest fashion possible. As we accumulate experience in this way, we produce new mechanisms, construction methods, and surface processing methods that are truly unique. The parts included in our products are cooperatively manufactured with skillful factories on the outskirts of Tokyo. Together with artisans at dozens of dedicated factories such as metalworking, we cultivate our abilities while freely utilizing advanced technologies in each field. All assembly and finishing work takes place at the Ginza Factory. In the final process, minute adjustments are made to all products by hand to ensure they can be used as comfortably as possible. Videos showing how each item is operated are available on our website. After World War II, the location of the Ginza Factory was a plate glass processing workshop operated by the representative of Steel Inc. at that time (two generations before the current representative). This manual industry has been passed down over the generations in Ginza in this way. We also offer maintenance services so that our products can be used for as long as possible."

More on Claustrum










More on Claustrum

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Tomas Maier joins fight to save Hotel Okura.


As the creative director of Bottega Veneta, Tomas Maier has consistently sought to protect the brand’s heritage of craftsmanship. In this same spirit, Maier is now taking on a new kind of preservation project. In partnership with the Japanese publication Casa Brutus, Maier and Bottega Veneta have launched an initiative to raise awareness of the potential destruction of numerous significant Modernist buildings in Japan due to economics, politics and the preparation for the 2020 Olympics.
Maier, the son of an architect and a lifelong architecture enthusiast, became interested in Japanese Modernism in the mid-1980s when he first visited the Hotel Okura, a 1962 landmark designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi. (Supporters of the campaign are encouraged to use the hashtag #mymomentatokura to document their favorite details of the building on social media.) In the video shown here, Maier discusses the campaign and explores the hotel’s unique features, which continue to inspire his work. “It would be a great loss for the next generation to be unable to embrace the beauty of these icons for themselves,” he says. via: tmagazine

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

HOSHINOYA-KYOTO- Art of OMOTENASHI

Recently, John and I experienced the Omotenashi at Hoshinoya Kyoto: Omotenashi is the Heart of Japanese Hospitality:
To Japanese, "omotenashi" means not just hospitality in the usual sense, but "something more akin to an elevated politeness that makes customers feel valued and respected”.

Hoshinoya Kyoto is a short boat ride from the center of Arashiyama, close to the city’s famous bamboo forests. 
It is a beautiful 100 year old  Ryokan restored with modern facilities yet preserving the old charm.

Two gardens are designed according to Zen principles to give the effect of flowing water. Architect Rie Azuma and landscape designer Hiroki Hasegawa have done a fantastic job building this zen Japanese resort around 400 year old from a private home of a local merchant.

 Hoshinoya Kyoto

Night boat ride
Boat ride from Togetsukyo Bridge
Night view of main buildings

The Tsuki Maisonette

Library lounge



Monko preparation (incense ceremony) 
 In Monko, you bury a small burning charcoal in ash within a small pot or cup. You then artfully and carefully create a mound of the ash, in which you create a small channel through which the charcoal’s heat can be channelled. A small square of glass is placed over the channel’s opening. On this is placed a small piece of wood, which releases its fragrance as it heats up.

Incens  flavours. 


Traditional writing set,  & Japanese games.
John & I, ready for our tea ceremony
Our tea ceremony in the zen garden.
Our lounge area with view
View of Ooi River
Arashiyama bamboo forest

Kaiseki


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Le Journal Patrick Stephan*

Patrick STEPHAN*
"Le journal de Patrick Stephan was born from my desire to initiate a dialogue centered around my work that could shed new light on the personal processes that fuel my artistic research. For several years, I carried this journal around under the guise of cahiers de vie—“life notebooks”. Day after day, as if performing a ritual, I would diligently fill its pages with written and artistic accounts inspired by my most meaningful encounters. There drawings blended in seamlessly with photographic portraits"
More via Patrick Stephan*
















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