Presentatie Kyoto Machiya project

Workshop Japans boekbinden

Tijdens mijn verblijf in Kyoto heb ik verschillende workshops Japans boekbinden gedaan. Deze Japanse bindwijze is eenvoudig, sterk en elegant. Ik verkoop boekjes, maak ze in opdracht en geef workshops. Deze boekjes zijn handig om mee te nemen voor aantekeningen,

Presentatie Japans Cultureel Centrum Amsterdam

Zaterdag 25 februari presenteert Hannie van den Bergh haar onderzoek naar de Machiya (traditioneel japans koopmanshuis). Een zoektocht naar de kwaliteiten van de Machiya en hoe deze over te dragen aan toekomstige generaties in Japan en te introduceren in het buitenland. Van 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

New work in traditional style

When I asked Nihonga painter (traditional japanese painter) Taro Yamamoto, if making a copy of one of his paintings would be a problem, he answered ‘no, I sometimes reuse parts of my paintings or copy them if people ask so’.