March 15th, 2016 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN, FEATURE | Comments Off on Hut Contemporized – Muji
| Back in November 2015, design specialists Curbed and designboom featured stories about household and consumer goods retailer Muji entering the micro homes space. Muji Hut will target those wanting a stylish, little place off the grid (or simply outside the city). Sales to start in 2017. The company enlisted three designers – Naoto Fukusawa, […]
February 21st, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in FEATURE, TRAVEL | Comments Off on Japan – Yasugi, Adachi Museum of Art, the Gardens
In my ongoing search for peaceful places on Earth, tonight’s search for “famous rock garden japan” revealed that in Shimane, Japan’s second least populous prefecture, there is a city with a population of 42,000 called Yasugi. There, one will find Adachi Museum of Art with its celebrated gardens that have offered tranquility since the 70s. […]
February 19th, 2015 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN, FEATURE | Comments Off on Dwell 100 – Chichibu Mountains, Japan
Dwell.com published a top 100 that looks at the most popular living spaces written about over their 12 year history. I thought I would go through and share with a bit of my take on some, maybe all. I don’t know what order these are in and which ended up being THE most popular. Maybe […]
August 29th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARTS, FEATURE | Comments Off on MUJI
A friend posted a story from Vancity Buzz today about Japanese consumer goods retailer MUJI entering the Canadian market. “MUJI” derived from “Mujirushi Ryohin” which translates as “no-brand quality goods” will begin their Canadian operations with Toronto in mid-December 2014. Vancouver is sure to follow making this big news for anyone here who likes creative, […]
July 14th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARTS, FEATURE | Comments Off on Keita Sagaki – Doodle Dude
“The concept of my creation is the borderless relationship between ‘whole and part’”. – Keita Sagaki | One hallmark of Takanori Aiba’s work is having big detail in a tiny space. The day I came across Aiba, I happened upon two websites (1) all-that-is-interesting.com and (2) thisiscolossal.com. Here, I was introduced to the work of one […]
July 9th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARTS, FEATURE | Comments Off on Hikaru Seino – Ganon Florist
Good ol’ Lynn Valley, 2011, a balmy summer evening: where and when I first met Hikaru Seino. After returning to his hometown of Sapporo, Hikaru-san started up Ganon Florist specializing in beautiful, evocative floral designs that are anywhere from tastefully conservative to sublime. “Ganon” is derived from Japanese “ガンガン恩返し” which is roughly an expression about […]
June 26th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARTS, FEATURE | Comments Off on Penzai/Saikei/Bonseki/Bonkei
As I continued to explore Takanori Aiba’s works, I began to wonder about the history of bonsai. Having Aiba in our world is no doubt a gift, but we would not have any of what he has done without the existence of bonsai in the first place. What about the roots of this tradition? After some […]
June 26th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARTS, FEATURE | Comments Off on Takanori Aiba – Bonsai!
A lot of us run random searches on things sometimes just to see what’s out there. Sometimes, I’ll run an identical search months or years later to see what’s changed. In November 2013, I revisited a search on “bonsai trees” and “Zen gardens.” What I unlocked was a door to the fascinating world of Japanese, […]
June 25th, 2014 | by weshareinterests | published in ARCHITECTURE, HOME & GARDEN, FEATURE | Comments Off on Cube House – Nagoya, Japan
おはようございます！- Yuriko Ninomiya greets the day from her third story bedroom as her husband opens up the door to their store and gallery below. One of my favourite sites is dwell.com, an architectural design publication. I recently came upon this home and thought I would share. Situated in Nagoya, Japan’s fourth largest urban area, this […]