We can't wait to get our hands on Marian Bantjes's new book "I Wonder", which she calls a "feast for visual gluttons". We especially love her discussion on astronomy, illustrated with images from the Griffiths Observatory's timeline made with celestial-themed jewelry. Looking forward to the feast!

 I was in Mumbai last week and chanced upon a beautiful exhibition by Ranbir Kaleka at the lovely Volte gallery. He works with projected images layered on painted images, giving a highly magical effect. Last chance to check it out this weekend... if you happen to be in Mumbai! 

Celebrate red with Marion Vidal. 

Today, 2.12.11 the exhibition of Kuramata Shiro and Ettore Sottsass opened at the 2121 Design Sight gallery in Tokyo, Japan. The exhibition celebrates the works of these 2 genius & important designers from Japan and Italy. Not to be missed if you are in planning a trip to Tokyo. 2.12.11 - 5.8.11

 Over the new year, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel a bit through Burma. It was unlike any other Southeast Asian country I have traveled too. Deeply steeped in a tradition of Theravada Buddhism intertwined with local elements such as the ubiquitous nats, this is a very spiritual place. It is also a place full of wonderful craft work, gifted hands working in the most manual ways I have ever seen. From intricate ikat silk weaving to the endless process of lacquerware, their tradition of craft is fantastically inspiring.

Understanding Lacquerware process from at Everstand, Bagan. Producers of the most high-quality, beautiful work I have seen.

Preparing for to paint the silk for ikat weaving, at Nan Mya Oo, Inle Lake

Gold leaf making in Mandalay. Gold sheets, resting on handmade, extra-strong bamboo paper, packed in deer hide, are pounded for hours.

Silk spinning in Mandalay

Patterns for temple finials at the Mahamouni Pagoda in Mandalay

Specialist buddha eye-maker at Mahamouni Pagoda, Mandalay

Offerings for sale at Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon

Sunrise in Bagan

Eggs for sale, old market on 26th Street, Yangon

We recently discovered this nice write up by fashion blogger Susie of Stylebubble about On Za Line and her new fixation on accessories made out of porcelain.

"I'm developing a strange fixation on accessories made out of porcelain.  I have these i-D images above saved on my desktop and every so often I'll linger over just to marvel at the mere idea of a porcelain collar adding physical weight to the shoulders.  The obvious allusion to the saying about lifting weight off shoulders is just a little bit too tempting not to buy into.  I also think my fascination has something to do with the breakable quality of the material porcelain, which makes me think of all of the precious plates and figurines that I accidentally knocked over causing my mum exasperated grief.  I blame my chubby little arms and my lack of co-ordination. 

Therefore, in a way I'm perhaps making up for those misdemeanours by highlighting porcelain accessories designers such as Uncommon Matters (seen above) who create pieces that I'd love to take good care of.  I'd dust and wipe them with a j-cloth and also wear them with care.  I can prove that my chubby arms don't destroy everything. 

Another porcelain discovery came to me when I was in Hong Kong at the store Kapok.  They had teamed up with the jewellery specialist store Chariots on Fire, which used to have a physical store in San Francisco and now operates solely online, to create an exhibition of their wares.  I'm not sure why I had never caught onto their well-selected store before but from Chariots on Fire, I unearthed Japanese designer On Za Line.  Duo Ai and Kiyomi create hand-made ceramic pieces that are limited because casting off a mould wears it down and so their collections are purposely irregular and project-based.   This is a collation of a few of their collections, some of which Chariots on Fire still stocks.  On Za Line's work isn't limited ot jewellery and for them, it is the resulting object and its permanent meaningful context that is more important than anything as transient as trends.  Their first collection's title and statement still resonates even if the resulting pieces aren't available anymore" - Susie.

Sunny weather called for a walk through the Huntington's Desert Garden's 5000+ species of Cacti, succulents...

RIP Trish Keenan of Broadcast. Thank you for your inspirational music.

Food and drink always dominates any travel involving myself and Oriana and HK was no exception.
Trying to get work done in a city that smells entirely of food was such a distraction! Oriana of course
organized the best food tour of HK. The only problem? There were just not enough number of meals
to try everything we wanted. Nonetheless, here are some photos to share...


I still dream about HK Crispy Chicken. HK chicken tasted nothing like the plumped variety you get here...
less meat but packed with so much flavor. The one we had at LEI Garden was excellent and this one at
Tung Po Seafood Restaurant was yummy too.

Tung Po Seafood Restaurant! AMAZING. There should be more restaurants like this. This place will rock
you, feed you & your family/urban family of 20+ with endless number of dishes. The more the merrier.
Snacks in Kowloon - salt roasted eggs & sweet potatoes

Lovely meal at the Man Wah at the Mandarin Oriental HK. Overall wonderful dining experience.
Wonderful interior and those pink tablecloths & XO sauce...

Personal pots of tea at the Lung King Heen at the Four Seasons. Intricate, delicate & beautiful dim sum
lunch. I had my best sauteed snow pea leaf dish here. So lucky they were in season!

Streetside printer - amazing!



Huge neon signs - the colors and scale was somthing else!