Frankie (in Macau)

He was my great guide in Macau as I've wrote in my previous post.
It certainly was a memorable two days in exciting islands. Thanks again for taking me to coolest places from the very touristic to the very minor.
I'm not good at spending long time with someone else, but despite this was pretty much the first time I hang out with him outside school environment, everything went so great and stress-free. That rarely happens I can assure you.
By the way, he's got the coolest father too. Give the family my regards.

マカオを案内してくれた友達。
今まで友達が住む色々な国に遊びに行って、様々な人に案内をしてもらってきたけれど、感動するくらい本当に彼は素晴らしいガイドだった。
友達の国に行く楽しみのひとつは、友達の家族と会うこと。彼の両親は、面白そうで、ファンキーな人たちだった。そんな両親を支えるかのようにしっかり育ち、そんな両親から愛情たっぷり受けて優しく育ったんだなあというのが、一目でわかるような幸せそうな家族だった。

Macau

My amazing experience in Macau owes hugely to Frankie's great job at being a perfect guide. It was simply perfect. I've never known he was such a great guide, and I was very fortunate to have him take me to some hidden and possibly more fascinating parts of Macau.

I fell in love with the cityscape of Macau too. The new and the old, the East and the West, the decay and the 'bling bling', resided next to one and another. Color palette of the city was lively. Pastel colors of Portuguese-styled buildings were beautiful. I adore decaying details that were everywhere. And there were exotic signs and billboards with Chinese characters, facing huge and superficial hotels and casinos... Mixture of all those things made the place unique and one of the kind.

In the essay "Learning from Las Vegas: The Forgotten Symbolism of Architectural Form", Robert Venturi talks that the spatial relationship are made by symbols rather than by forms in Las Vegas. Without signs, Las Vegas is no place.
Although I've never been to Vegas, it's easy to assume that the new buildings that are being built in Macau ultimately is a reproduction of Las Vegas. But because it is coexisting with historical buildings of Portuguese and Chinese, creating fascinating contrasts, it adds whole different dimension to it.


日帰りの予定で、大学のマカオ人の子に案内を頼んだら、泊まるマンションまで用意してくれて、２日間付きっきりで案内してくれた。特別仲が良かった訳でもなかったから、なおさら感動。そして、彼は案内をするのがとても上手だった。

彼の案内だけでも、素敵な経験だったマカオ。街自体も、面白かった。
ポルトガルの面影残るパステルカラーの建築。ごちゃごちゃしていて、サビれた住宅街。中国語の派手な看板。真新しい、変な形の巨大ホテルやカジノ。

古いものをそのまま残すだけの街や、新しいものしかない街というのは、景色としてあまり面白くない。ロンドンの町並みの大好きなところは、過去の建物と、現在や未来を感じさせる建築が混在する点。ロンドンは、１８００年代の古い建築も残っている中で、新しい建築もあり、そのミックス感が面白い。マカオも同様、様式や文化のごちゃごちゃ感がオリジナルで印象深かった。

Typo London 2011: Bitch, I Don't Know Your Life!!

All day long conference on the subject of typography.
It was overall a good day of learning (I've only attended the Saturday session), though I'm not sure the quality of those lectures have met the expectation that came with quite expensive tickets? There were many cases that the speaker didn't really talk about typography too.

My favorite speaker was probably Karin von Omteda. She's got a background in biology and she analyzes typefaces in a scientific way, but presents very fascinating visuals as outcomes.

Photo from her website's Type Diversity Poster page.

Apparently her work is in the current issue of Grafik magazine too.

By the way, "Bitch, I don't know your life!!" is apparently Chip Kidd's new mantra. I wasn't personally too found of his work, but he definitely had the funniest and most entertaining lecture of all. I don't usually read graphic novels, but I'd like to read his "Batman: Death by Design" once it's out.

Not just particularly about this conference but in general, it's quite interesting how I sometimes like what a designer (or an artist) says but not necessary like his work. Or I sometimes like his work but find him quite shallow in his speech. It's easy to be fooled that just because I liked a designer's lecture and found of what he's said, doesn't necessary mean that I find his design work amazing. Many times they go hand in hand, not necessary always.
It's maybe like, just because you get along as friends doesn't necessary mean you like each others' works, and vice versa?



３日間。朝の９時から夜の８時半まで。全日通しのチケットは７８０ポンド（約９万円・・・もちろん払ってません。運良く先生からタダでチケットが手に入ったので参加）。気合いの入ったタイポグラフィーのコンファレンス。でも、意外とタイポグラフィーに特化していなかったような・・・。

デザイナーのレクチャー（アイディア、思想）が好きということと、彼の作品が好きということは、まったくの別の話。思想が好きだと、作品も好きな気がしてしまうけれど、必ずしもそうではない。逆に、あまり考えが深くないデザイナーの作品にすごく惹かれてしまう場合もある。今回のコンファレンスは、作品がすごく好きなデザイナーのレクチャーが割とつまらなくて、すごく面白いレクチャーをしたデザイナーの作品を退屈だと感じるケースが多かった。

Yava Font Gets 5000+ Downloads

My Yava Font got 5,399 downloads!
I've completely forgotten about the fact I've put it on DaFont website, and when I accidentally came across my font, it already reached that many amounts of downloads. 5000+ downloads in 3 months seem quite impressive to me.

I didn't blogged about it nor advertised it, because I actually started working on a modified version, which I was planning of making available but still haven't got around finishing. The Beta version that is available on DaFont website has very thin strokes and needs to be used in quite a large point size. Since my Beta version seem to be quite successful, I may try charging a fee once the version with slightly thicker strokes is finished. Will see.

Meanwhile, Yava font Beta (PC and Mac) is available for free at DaFont website.


私の作ったフォントYavaが、気づいた頃には５０００ダウンロードを超えていて、びっくり。特にあまり考えずに、タダでダウンロード出来るように公表したのだけれど、結果としてダウンロードしてくれる人が５０００人いたということは嬉しい。
タダで自身の音楽を公開しているミュージシャンとかもこういう気持ちなのかな、と想像。

いずれ、もうちょっと太めで使いやすいバージョンをリリース出来たらいいな。とりあえずそれまでは DaFontのウェブサイトで無料バージョンがダウンロード出来ます。（PC、Mac共に対応。）

Binary Earrings by Ayako Kanari

I recently bought these lovely earrings by Ayako Kanari.

These earrings are from her final degree show collection. The original ones were in gold, but I've requested her to make silver versions!

The meaning behind this piece is:

As far as written languages go, mathematics is one of the most universal ones that exists. Within mathematical language one of the most interesting subsets is binary code, which just as the number one thousand consits of only ones and zeroes. The Binary Earrings combine my fascination with language and my exploration of the figure one thousand on this exact plane, by showing that there is an alternative way to expressing 1000 which still uses only ones and zeroes.

That description sounds so poetic and I love the elegant interpretation of binary code, which we often associate with computing and geeky kinds. I like the way not only I love the design of the piece, but also it has an association with my interests in computing in its meaning.

All photos by Ayako Kanari... of me and my earrings!

You can buy her Binary Earrings Silver here.
You can browse and shop her other jewellery at Ayako's Boticca page.

最近買った、ジュエリーデザイナーのアヤコちゃんデザインのピアスを毎日してる。意外と大きいので割と目立つけれど、シンプルだから服を選ばないので重宝。彼女の卒業コレクションの作品はゴールドなのだけれど、私がお願いしたのはシルバー。
綺麗でエレガントだけれど、とげとげしているから可愛すぎず、ちょっとエッジー。そんなデザイン自体も自分らしくて気に入っているのだけれど、この「バイナリーコード」をモチーフにした作品の意味も自分にぴったりで、ダブルでお気に入り。
周りの評判も良く、褒めてもらえて嬉しい！「友達のデザイナーが作ったんだよ」と自慢にもなるし、特別なものだから、更に大切にしたくなるし。

このバイナリーのピアス（シルバー）は こちらから買えます。
その他、アヤコちゃんのジュエリーの作品はBoticcaのウェブサイトにて見れます。

Maiko Kobayashi "Sorrows of Life"

コバヤシ麻衣子さんの新作個展「かなしいライフ」が六本木ヒルズ内のA/D Galleryで開催されています！１０月１９日まで！
森美術館や展望台から降りて来ると必ず通るショップの横という素晴らしい立地。私が東京を発ったすぐ後に開催されたので、私は惜しくも逃してしまって残念。でも、私が六本木ヒルズに行ったときには、フライヤーが置いてあったので、持って帰ってきました（それが上の写真）。予想以上にA/D Galleryはスペースも広かった。
私がこの夏日本に行った際には、個展前で本当に忙しそうな中、彼女のスタジオ訪問まで実現して、本当に楽しかった＆お世話になりました。

My friend Maiko Kobayashi is having an exhibition in A/D Gallery inside Roppongi Hills, Tokyo. (The identity of Roppongi Hills has been done by Jonathan Barnbrook.)
The exhibition started right after I left Tokyo so I sadly had to miss it. I did, however, had a chance to visit her studio in Tokyo and the works there were looking promising.
Since I met her in Newcastle 3 years ago, she's been working so hard and realizing all these exhibitions possible both within Japan and abroad. She's always an inspiration and has full of stories to share, she's definitely one of the people I rush to visit when I'm back in Tokyo.

Ayla

We met through a mutual friend, when she visited Amsterdam about 5 years ago. We hung out few times during that summer, but were out of touch afterwards. She then contacted me via Facebook when she was visiting London this summer.
It was quite a brief encounter 5 years ago, but I remember her quite well, admiring her as it was instantly recognizable how special this girl is. Free spirit, a bit crazy, a lot of fun, but also very smart. After 5 years, she was still the same, sharing me exciting stories about Paris.
She's now studying Textile Design in Paris. I knew she'd be an artist!
I'm grateful that she remembered me and contacted me. Was good to hear that I also made a good impression on her back then.


彼女のパリジャンヌで自由奔放、しっかりしていて、気取らない生き方に衝撃を受けて、「なんてかっこいいんだ！」と感動したのは、５年前。私がまだ１５歳の頃。
一夏のアムステルダムでの出会いだったのが、この夏また再会出来てとても嬉しかった。今はパリの美大でテキスタイルデザインをやっているそう。なんだかんだ、昔からの友達で今でも仲がいい人はアートやデザイン関係の子ばかり。二人きりで喋ったことなんてろくになかったのに、久しぶりの再会でも、幾日も話題が尽きなかった。

Dan

I've been taking portraits of friends over the summer, mostly of people that were leaving London or ones that were in London for only a temporary period. I, however, also took photos of friends that live in London but I don't get to see in my daily basis and Dan was one of them.
I don't get to see him too often, but everytime I see him, he always make me laugh hard. My foundation year is remembered as entertaining because of endless laughter with Dan and Vicke. He might be good looking in pictures, but he really can be silly and totally approachable.
Anyway, I miss summer weather. And I still miss seeing Dan around.

こうやってみると、かっこいいよなあ。でも、喋るとあほで可愛い。
一緒にいると、ずっと笑いっぱなし。

Ruins of St. Paul's, Macau

One of my highlights from my trip was seeing Ruins of st.Paul's (Ruínas de São Paulo), the restoration and museumification done by an architect João Luís Carrilho da Graça (to many of you this name probably sounds familiar).

It's the most famous touristic spot in Macau, it's basically a Cathedral that's been burnt and only its façade has survived. I also loved João Luís Carrilho da Graça's museum/shrine bit at the back and I'd love to see more of his work in Portugal.

I was also lucky to be able to catch audiovisual mapping performance by Spanish artists Telenoika. I've seen a lot of projection mapping stuff online but it was my first time actually seeing it live and it really was one of the kind experience. The last part of the video bellow is my favorite bit from the entire performance.



I cannot thank Frankie enough for being a perfect guide in Macau.


「端正且つ大胆な作風で普遍性を有する地平を切り開き続ける建築家」ジョアン・ルイス・カリーリョ・ダ・グラサ氏が修復、ミュージアム化を手がけた、マカオのセントポール寺院。
友達のお父さんなのだけれど、かっこいい・・・。いずれ会ってみたい人の一人。

たまたまマカオにいる時に、スペイン人アーティストTelenoikaのプロジェクション・マッピングがこのセントポール寺院で行われていて、運良く見れた（上の動画参照）。
巷で流行っているプロジェクション・マッピングだけれど、生で見たのは今回が初めて。日本は明るすぎるのと、騒音、交通傷害が理由でなかなか行われていないらしい。
建物の凹凸をすべてパソコンで３Dモデル化しないといけないので、平面にプロジェクションするのよりも手間がかかるそう。でも、すべてがすごくクールで、今まで見てきたものと異なる体験で、かなり感動してしまった。

話を戻して、その建築家のジョアン・ルイス・カリーリョ・ダ・グラサ氏はちょっと前まで日本を回って、東大、横浜国立大、京大で講義ツアーをしたらしい。
そのレポートはこちら。

彼は、１１日まで、新宿のOZONE Galleryのポルトガルの現代建築展にも参加しているので、そちらも是非。「模型やパネル、あるいは巨大なモックアップが並ぶ通常の建築展覧会とは異なる、「建築展とは何か」を あらためて問う実験的な展覧会」と、なかなか面白そう。
http://www.ozone.co.jp/event_seminar/event/detail/1157.html

This is it, is this it?

This is going to be the busiest and fastest year ever.
I love it so much, I seriously wish I could stay in CSM for another 5 years. But that's nothing but an escapism, I'll face whatever I need to face in a year's time.

I went to Royal Albert Hall last night to see Metronomy and Royal Albert Hall was astonishingly beautiful. There are so many beautiful buildings within UK but this may be one of my favorites. V&A is also spectacular, I wonder what was South Kensington area used to be for? Impressive of Metronomy that they weren't lost in such beauty too.

If I'm going to be leaving London in less than a year's time, architecture in London that are beautiful from both inside and outside, are something that I'll miss greatly.


どれだけ自分が忙しいかにようやく気付いた、新学期初日。

でも、忙しいと生きてる心地がする。
過密スケジュールの中、頑張ってる自分というのは、好きになれそうです。頑張ります。

あと５年くらいセントマにいたいなあ。
大学の「卒業後、英国に残るには」という情報欄を読んでみたら、結婚くらいしか方法がないみたいだし。心折れちゃうよね。しくしく。

英国には美しいオペラハウスや、シアターや、ホールが沢山あるのだけれど、昨日行ったRoyal Albert Hallはその中でも一番美しかった。
綺麗な桜スポットは多いみたいだけれど、景色のいい展望台は多いけれど、東京で一番「美しい建物」ってなんだろう。新旧含め、関西の方が美しいのかもしれない。
「東京で一番美しい建物が見たい」と言ったら、あなたは私をどこに連れ行ってくれますか。
丹下さんのアーチ（代々木競技場）？