jollygoo

Kyo Uchiwa

Friday, 17 July 2009

All images are from http://www.kyo-aiba.jp/

京うちわ。
"Uchiwa" is a paper fan which is one of the symbolic items of Japanese summer, it's part of our culture. We are often given them for free on the streets these days, the ones that have advertisements on them. But I'm talking about a different type of Uchiwa now - Kyoto style Uchiwa.

Kyo Uchiwa Aiba is the oldest paper fan maker in Japan that has 300 years of history. They do make Uchiwas for daily use, but they make Uchiwas more for decorative and artistic purposes. It's really amazing how Uchiwas can be such beautiful pieces of artwork, they are just superb!

The caption for the first image from Kyo Uchiwa Aiba's website was "Uchiwa gift as substitute for a flower bouquet". Well I've told you how horrible our summer is already, keeping fresh flower at home can be a difficult thing at this time of year. How wounderful would it be to receive a gift like this in summer! Well it'll be much more expensive than sending fresh flowers, but if you want to really please someone I think Kyo Uchiwa would be a perfect gift choice!

Kyo Uchiwa Aiba (Japanese Only)
More about Uchiwa here in English

Comments: 6

Mostly Skies.

These are all taken in different cities in Japan at different times, they have so much in common. Just a tiny bit of land (or building) showing at the bottom of the frame, all tilted a bit to the left and mostly skies whether it's a beautiful sky or just a plain boring sky. I must like this style. Do you take similar photos without realising like I do?

Comments: 10

Nippon no Natsu.

Thursday, 16 July 2009

Japanese Summer.
Rainy season has gone and the real summer has arrived. The heat and the humidity is just so unbearable, it seems to get hotter and hotter every year. Global warming, big problem. I hope I can survive another summer of Japan.
Have a lovely summer to you all!

Comments: 11

minä perhonen 2009-2010 Autumn / Winter Catalogue

Monday, 13 July 2009

Wonderful new minä perhonen catalogue, "紋黄蝶　2009-2010 Autumn / Winter Collection" has arrived, yay! This time it's a thick booklet style (70pages) and has lots of lovely images which covers all ladys, mens, childrens and babys collections. It's just so beautiful. mina perhonen is WONDERFUL!

Comments: 8

KAORU by Atelier Kaoru

Sunday, 12 July 2009

Atelier Kaoru is my favourite jewelry brand from Kyoto. The Kyoto-born designer Kaoru san's designs are inspired by daily seen objects mostly of nature. She handmades the most delicate and beautiful jewelries! I've been a huge fan of her designs though in the past few years she's become quite popular and the price has gone up so I haven't been able to get any new ones for a long time, but those what you see in the above pictures are my KAORU Collection.

The bottom images are from her website (you need to be patient to see this web..), it has very unique atmosphere don't you think? Oh i want that necklace in the last image!