wisteria tunnel, could you hang in there forever!...

These amazing wisterias are from the Wisteria Tunnel 

at Kawachi Fuji Gardens, in Kitakyushu, Japan. 

I have memories of Wisteria flowers when every spring they 

bloomed very densly on th fence in front of our house back then!

they made the entrance to our house like an old British painting! 

The smell, the color (ours was purplish like Lilac flowers), the 

way they were hanging down .... intense yet ethereal ....it was 

all very promising, and optimistic in the most humble way!

i never could forget butterflies-in-my-stomach feelings 

i used to get when they were in full bloom!

now......seeing these fotos just touched me the same way!

all im thinking this morning is "pleeez universe take me 

there sometimes" so i experience walking in that garden!

after all..... i have to reconnect with my Japanese

side of me that is just awakened recently! 

dont you think so!! hee hee hee!!

really, truly, and almost madly.......

As Paul Madonna said in his book:
"where  do you belong
let it all go.

you have to go away
to come back."

these are words from my new love for:
artist Paul Madonna and his book:
"Everything is its own rewards"
which is one the most amazing/inspiring illustration
combined words book i have seen in a long time!

his words/stories really touched me and his illustrations
of landscapes in the city are just truly amazing!
in fact so good that i madly had to order my own copy!

[photo are taken by myself  at my kitchen table
of a spring arrangement i did from me to me! hee hee]

"gimme" more..............

flowers flowers and flowers

white, yellow, blue or else

can i have some more pleeez!

natural ones

painted ones

dried ones

inspired ones

show me what you got

i show you mine 

it's almost the end of March

when earth continues blooming

when flowers becomes pop art culture

they are in every turn i make

in my daydreams

i go to sleep with white ones

frequent ones to be exact

so my dreams turn sweet

and

when i wake up

they are yellow 

with the promise to turn 

blue and green or else

gimme more

i said less is more

they say

the more the better

and

i want more

hee hee hee
(yet again another 
whimsical silly idyllic 
writing of mine!)

The bird was just a bird......

here you find a translation of the poem
"The bird was just a bird"
by  "Forugh Farrokhzad" i posted
a couple of days ago! my half persian half
japanese, beautiful Joseph Holmes with his
beautiful master mind in persian literature,
is the one who did such simple yet true to
original translation!
thank you Joseph! you are more persian 
than japaneses if you know what mean! 

and......

Call me crazy but i love the symbol for "and".
every type face has its own "&" design and
sometimes i get lost just going through different
type faces to try their &'s!

above you see one of those times when im
wondering around "&" and playing with the
photos i took around the house recently!
its a my guilty pleasure when im supposed
to get more important works done here at
the office and instead all im doing is just
playing with shapes!

i guess i can always call it the research
time towards the next upcoming design projects!
Can't I? hee hee hee

flower chair......

Kenneth Cobonpue’s chair, Bloom, is just so fun to look at!
it really looks like a flower and still looks comfortable.
it woudl be fun to curl up in one and feel it!
it is created from microfiber stitched overtop resin with a steel base.
the playfulness and realism of its form is a testament to a great design.

floating market.............

quote of day:

The artist is a receptacle for emotions 

that come from all over the place: 

from the sky, the earth, a scrap of paper, 

a passing shape, a spider's web.  

                                            - Pablo Picasso

(first foto by Hendra Senjaya 
traditional floating market in Banjarmasin, Indonesia
second by Edy Santosa
floating market in Lok Baintan village, Indonesia)

call it a supreme day.......

on my "just-bought" new notebook from japan,
reads:
"if present unhappiness is compared with 
big unhappiness, feelings become easy a little. 
Moreover, present unhappiness will bring 
happiness in the future."

yesterday
i had a supreme day!

started as a rainy day!
i had to be in the city for a workshop.
driving, parking, and making it to the
class at 10am all together was not like; 
ohhhhh..... how wonderful! cant wait!
(honestly i did not want to go to city at
such early hours on sat morning for any
kind of classes!)
the photo workshop was just OK!
nothing special! the guy was talking way
too fast and i did not have my own camera
(i borrowed one) to really apply what
he was going over!

left the class with the promise of meeting a
dear "half japanese half persian" friend of
mine who i adore and love in japan town. 

and....all i knew after 6 hours......
i was still in the area exploring all things
Japaneses! alone by myself, regardless of
how wet my socks inside the boots were,
i did not want to go home yet!

i told myself: "this was one of my best rainy
days ever in SF as far as i remember." yes!
it really turned to be a supreme day after all
in an spontaneous sort of way!

(i took the photos above with my shoot &
go camera after finishing a matcha latte!
while i was sipping....i was soooo thinking
everything japanese! (i had been always
fascinated with japaneses art and sense
of design, ink paintings, geisha culture, & else!)

by the time i left i was convinced i was half Japanese!
(just dont ask my mom about that because she
would deny it!).........hee hee hee

i wont go through details of what i did for 6 hours,
but
im leaving you with a quote by
the Japanese Zen Monk
Kozan Ichikyo: 
“Empty-handed I entered the world
Barefoot I leave it.
My coming, my going
Two simple happenings
That got entangled.”

a cherry walk.......

i smell it. i feel it.
in my head im there.
walking through
the cherry blossom path.

im blossoming
im pink and green....and  more

it's blossoming time
spring is knocking
open the door
open your heart
let it grow
let it smell.

(a whimsical morning moment of mine!)

[photos by Antonio M. Rosario]

Dietlind Wolf ...............

I could not help myself but sharing the work of dietlind wolf .

a visual designer and prop-stylist from hamburg, Germany.
her work literally just take my breath away! i forget breathing 
when i am browsing through her photos! really really!

Forough Farrokhzad's poem.......

بهار آمده است

و من به جستجوی جفت خویش خواهم رفت

پرنده از ایوان

پرید ، مثل پیامی پرید و رفت

پرنده کوچک بود

پرنده فکر نمیکرد پرنده روزنامه نمیخواند

پرنده قرض نداشت

پرنده آدمها را نمیشناخت

پرنده روی هوا

و بر فراز چراغ های خطر

در ارتفاع بی خبری میپرید

و لحظه های آبی را

 دیوانه وار تجربه میکرد

  

 پرنده ، آه ، فقط یک پرنده بود

this poem "The bird was just a bird"
by forough farrokhzad is just so touching & beautiful

 it's talking about a bird who flew away from balcony
who was like a message and was gone

a little bird
who did not think
did not read newspaper

did not owe anybody
did not know people

who in the air
over the danger of light poles
in the height of unknown

crazily was experiencing 
blue moments
the bird....oh.....it was just a bird

[p.s.  its my rough translation i just did wothout much of editing!]
if i find a better translation i would post it for you.

Forough Farrokhzad handwriting...........

"Forugh Farrokhzad is arguably one of Iran's most influential
female poets of the twentieth century. She was a controversial
modernist poet and an iconoclast."

I really love it when i find an artist's personal notes, hand
writings or sketches. and  so in that matter what better than
finding a piece by my all time favorite poet, Forugh Farrokhzad.
i love the line strokes in farsi hand writing and all the cross outs
in her writing. her simple words satisfy a thirst in you that you
did not even know you had!

the photo of her is one of the rare unpublished photos!
she was simply beautiful!

also, you can find a translation of poem above 
"rebirth" in English here.

paper flowers chandelier.....

Just love love this playful chandelier from anthropologie.
what i love about it!?
all made with simple, everyday materials: paper
playful yet functional/practical
flower inspired
off white and huge (statement piece in any corner of your space)

I'm thinking...
perhaps i can come up with how to make something similar to it if i really really want!
Oh yes! gimme one soon!