Art | Film | Education

softness for the brain

while i was reading a book with lectures and articles by wim crouwel ‘ways of thinking’ i thought about the absence of capitals in japanese writing. in the beginning of the 20th century in europe we had an interesting discussion about the use of lower case and capitals. designers wanted to give expression to the utopian ideal of equality, capitals meant traditional hierarchy. the other source was functional-rational. bauhaus wrote: ‘wir schreiben alles klein, denn Lees verder

Door Studio HB, geleden

Soft facts

During the processing of the data, I gathered through the surveys, I was wandering how I could present this in an elegant way and with humility. Although the graphs look like hard facts, I wanted to make them soft and personal. One way was the use of washi (handmade paper). Than I wanted to put my handwriting in it with the ‘facts’. So every page has a second layer from thin washi where I’m now Lees verder

Door Studio HB, geleden

Soft design

The flyers and posters which attract my attention most are those with a combination of computer made straight forward design (font types and photographs) and hand made drawings. Those images make a link between handcraft and modern culture. This way of working is also expressed in theatre and animation films. Using life drawing/painting on stage with video projection, sometimes even life performance or life music. An elegant way of wandering around: touching without grasping, thinking Lees verder

Door Studio HB, geleden

Imperfect

This is the cup from which I take tea everyday day. You can see clearly that’s handmade: the shape of the cup is irregular, the surface has little cracks (raku fired) and the painting is rustic. With our western values we should say it’s not a piece of beauty, with a lack of symmetric, not perfectly shaped and a bit decayed. But more and more I feel all around me the appreciation for pottery and Lees verder

Door Studio HB, geleden

Relying on words

When people say “there’s no communication between parents and children”, this is an American way of thinking. In Japan we didn’t need spoken communication between parents and children. A glance at the face, a glance at the back and we understood enough. That was our way of thinking, and it was because we had true communication of the heart. It’s when we took as our model a culture relying on words with problems that  things Lees verder

Door Studio HB, geleden

Slightly open

One of my daily routines is taking my bike, opening the entrance door, taking out my bike and closing the door.
Sometimes the door is slightly open, but then I close it afterwards.No locks in my house, so no problem with lost or forgotten keys. This sliding door only a few centimeters open is a sign for people that the dwellers are at home. Then they can walk directly, without invitation, into the corridor to drop Lees verder

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Entranceway

Last month I described two teahouses, one by Terunobu Fujimori (30-10-2011) and the other by students of the art academy (31-10-2011), where you had to crawl through a low entrance door to get in. It felt rather uncomfortable and a bit like a joke. But lately I had a discussion at the Kohrin-in temple, where we visited the teahouse in the garden of the temple complex. There where two entrances: one with sliding doors and Lees verder

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All arts in one

In the survey that I did last weeks, I asked about the activities mostly related to the machiya. Ikebana (flower arrangement) and tea ceremony ended both on the first place. Zen meditation and calligraphy both on the second. I would have expected that far more people would have chosen for tea ceremony. Not only because I see it everywhere in town, but also because tea ceremony includes all arts. The bowl that goes around to Lees verder

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Senses

Sitting on a tatami mat and looking outside into the garden is one of the most beautiful ways to wash away daily frustration. It takes some time, but than you can experience all the senses to relax and enjoy the japanese tradition. – Overlook the garden though the bamboo blinds or with the sliding paperdoors half open – Feel the fresh wind finding its way inside from the trees in the garden – Hear the Lees verder

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Reversible

The size of a tatami mat (90 x180 cm) is not only an acre, but also the dimensions for the altitude of the space. This makes the space in the tatami room so elegant and simple. Roland Barthes wrote in his book L’Empire des signes: “This means the space without a center is also reversible: you can change the corridor of Shikidai upside-down without something happening, except that up and down and left and right Lees verder

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