Handcrafted Modern has (finally) arrived at the shop.
And it is so great.
Beautifully captured details of the homes of some of the most
inspiring architects, designers and artists of the modernist era.

I love the photographer/creator Leslie Williamson's
personalised approach to the entire project.
And I love the opening line:

"Perfection is supremely uninteresting to me."

This gem is now available at MR KITLY web shop.

a commenter had a little chuckle,
when i mentioned in one post about
a nice little minshuku (see glossary in right column)

to stay at in the mountains in japan -
i said that it must be in the lonely planet,
because there were a fair few gaijin there.


and that's the thing - everyone knows -
no matter what little abandoned corner of the world you are in,
there will be another intrepid fellow explorer
with beaten up brick of a lonely planet on knee,
just around the next corner.
please know i am not being sniffy here,
i know often the chance meeting brings about good times,
it's just that that seems to be the current state of play.

the lonely planet is still the
dominant force in guide publishing (at least here in oz).
and for sure, they have their place -
i know on my first and subsequent trips to japan
the LP has been at times invaluable
when you land up in a random small town
with no idea of where to stay.
and it is especially useful for places where the language
makes it that bit harder to find what you need.

the trade off is that those guides have been out there a long time,
and everyone else will be there too :)

so:

i love the taking it down a level.
going personalised and community/neighbourhood based.
following your nose and taking welcome hints
from others who like the same stuff you do.
guide makers who will also stop
and take a moment to appreciate
the small quiet corners,
the green potted streets and squares,
the colours and the light.


that's what these wonderful guides
to two of the world's most entrancing cities
can do, i think.

they would be a wonderful addition to
a traveller's suitcase.


top 2 photos: PARIS 48°49N 2°29E by Ami Sioux at ofr. (in french i would say)

next 2 photos: guide paris at ofr. (ditto)

how i found the above two: collage by rosemarie at a drawing diary (exhibiting at ofr.)

last 4 photos: the highly anticipated tokyo neighbourhoods guide by hello sando

i just finished a biography on dylan thomas by constantine fitzgibbon.

it prompted me to look for recordings of dylan thomas reading his own poetry.

i found some youtube (at end) and here is a reading from the bbc archives.
it is quite something to hear; those rolling, lilting, bass notes. elocution.

"Dylan Thomas's voice has added a new dimension to literary history. He will surely be remembered as the first in modern literature to be both a maker and speaker of poetry..."

The New York Times on Thomas at the time of his American tours

it was a joy to also find these photos of his boathouse studio on a cliff's edge in south wales.

dylan thomas died in new york in november 1953 at the age of 39.

(ps - as far as i can see you need to have a skinny view on your screen to have these in linear order, it seems. a wide view and they go all over the shop...)

reading do not go gentle into that good night (written when his father was dying)

reading in my craft or sullen art

reading fern hill










reading love in the asylum (a girl mad as birds)

art, writing and a big cartel

the lovely marie from ici blog has opened a big cartel.

and i just discovered marie has also begun a new blog called lire, words on the literary.

it is lovely to visit marie's charming, quiet and contemplative world.

the above image is from lire. it is a water colour by melbourne artist alice byrne,

currently on show at james makin gallery.

the below are some oishisou onigiri by marie.

ps - and how very very exciting it is that mieke willems now have a web shop!

pps - i am centred now.

modern japanese architecture and ma

nazara at + blog has created a modern japanese architecture facebook page. wonderful!

these pictures are from the facebook page (the nishizawa and sejima (SANAA) section.)

hello sandwich also featured pictures and really comprehensive links to 

SANAA houses and the book here (and got to meet them!). 

and here is a make it easy post on moriyama house.

i recently received my copy of SANAA Houses from amazon. 

i really, really like SANAA's houses. 

and i am totally enthralled with the book. the houses and pictures are of course incredible.

but the essays at the back are also highly informative and engaging, i found them really...exciting.

i highly recommend this book to anyone interested in modern japanese 

architecture and design, and the influence of deeply japanese concepts 

such as mono no aware (also see yasujiro ozu films), emptiness, shadows and darkness, and ma:

MA

ma (space, emptiness, interval, the experience of interdependence of space and time).

from the wiki entry on ma, Taoist philosopher Lao Tse wrote extensively on the 

concept of ma including his poem The Uses of Not :

Thirty spokes meet in the hub,

but the empty space between them

is the essence of the wheel.

Pots are formed from clay,

but the empty space between it

is the essence of the pot.

Walls with windows and doors form the house,

but the empty space within it

is the essence of the house.^[4]

see this series of four films on the subject of ma by video artist takahiko iimura.

one of which uses the zen garden of ryoanji to interpret ma.

ma is also a important in the sparse rhythym of traditional japanese music. this wikipedia entry summarises it well.

(and as a nice little segue there, i have added a music player to the sidebar, 

as part of 'on my record player'. at the moment it is playing 

minimum chips 'cold afternoon' from the album sound asleep. beautiful music...)

i would like a bathroom in the garden like this

july

it could well be a case of 'enough already with the miranda july', but i do think she is ace. 

you can see a video of walking through her installation at the yokohama triennial here.

the very ace third drawer down in collingwood, melbourne have miranda july's pillowcases above.

miranda july's website for her book no one belongs here more than you.

from recent venice biennale

the yokohama triennial installation

miranda july's website for her book no one belongs here more than you

mono no aware

the films of yasujiro ozu are simply one of the most beautiful things i know. i love the slow pace and the intimate minutiae of lived life they poetically portray. in the right mood, i could quite seriously watch them with the sound and subtitles off and still be enthralled, as the low monochrome perspective and depth of field unfolds an interior through layers of domesticity, where you can see so exquisitely how families lived in such small spaces, how rooms transformed to meet changing needs during the day and night - the kotatsu and tea trays are packed away to make room for the unfolded futon come night time.

i have been lucky enough to live in some very old traditional houses in kyoto, and every time i watch an ozu film like tokyo story i find all of my senses are transported in a very tangible way to the tatami rooms, papered shoji, green tea and fluttering uchiwa of old kyoto houses.

ozu's films are an exemplar of the japanese concept of mono no aware; this senses of cinema article provides an interesting read from a film critic perspective, and i am most interested in reading this book on ozu and the poetics of cinema।

these stills were sourced via goofbutton.

ps - i went to the public lecture in melbourne last night by sakamato-san. the architect who introduced him mentioned ozu as one who sakamoto's philosophy and architecture evokes. i think one of his quotes was something along the lines of 'ozu makes great film art from the everyday'. and so today i post ozu that i was saving up for a rainy day. i will post more on sakamoto-san's poetics in the ordinary soon.