Wood in Nepal
I’ve seen some amazing detailed carved wood on many of the buildings in Nepal. The intricate carving is so decorative and the detail still visible after hundreds of years.
Discovering Nepal
I have encountered some interesting buildings while on my trek. Some constructed from logs and twigs to assemble a shop like this one that sold fruit at the foot of the mountains.
Some being de-constructed brick by brick - literally!
One for the doves….
A beautiful medieval looking construction towering over passers by.
Nepalese Jewellery
During my recent mountain trek in the Himalayas I have seen jewellery adorned on many Nepalese women. The silver craftmanship has intricate detail yet a decorative necklace can be constructed by joining several neutral stones, coral and turquoise held together by yak hide string.
I love this photo of a Nepali Lady in 1890 adorned in all her finery, the overlapping coin necklace being common in East Nepal. Besides the function of money, and indicator of wealth, coins are regarded as almost sacred when placed on a woman’s body to ease her passage into release.
A Modest Proposal…..
Spring is officially in the air as the interest in engagement rings increases. This ring photographed by the artist Hayley Renee Bates looks suitable for a minature doll!
Textiles in Jewellery
I had a whirlwind trip to Paris Fashion Week of which I saw some mesmerising designs (and thankfully the Eurostar delays did not phase me!)
The designs that particularly attract my attention seem to be a theme of jewellery using textiles. The brand Wear and Tear who were exhibiting at The Box, have some amazing metallic knitted necklaces, bracelets and brooches. The designer Cheung Lik uses all hand crafted techniques with tactile fabrics that are really wearable.
Some amazing pendants and brooches from Natsuko Ebe caught my eye - she uses broken dolls heads to create these innovative styles.
A more quirky take on beaded jewellery are the designs from Marianne Batlle who pays homage to fashion and music legends in finger puppet size bead work.
Mother’s Day Flora
With Mother’s Day fast approaching there are some fantastic blooms to be adored. A favourite florist of mine Wild at Heart have come up with this exclusive beautiful, feminine and spring like bouquet for Liberty.
Of course an alternative Mothers Day floral gift would be a piece from my ‘Flora’ collection (which of course would outlive the bouquet!).
New York Furniture Store - BDDW
While working in New York last month I was drawn into the most fantastic furniture store, BDDW. Tyler Hays, the company founder and head designer creates amazing solid wood furniture, traditionally joined, each piece so considered and well placed in such and enormous space.
Along with the very desirable furniture there were some unusual displayed objects. I loved these little carved ‘apple core’ heads, apparently carved by the designers’ mother. Fantastic!
Yayoi Kusama Exhibition at Tate Modern
This is one of the best exhibitions I have been to for a while. I particularly like her earlier work form the 50’s where she often featured abstracted forms that suggest natural phenomena such as eggs, seeds, trees and flowers pictured on a microscopic or cosmological scale that recalls surrealist imagery.
After leaving Japan, Yayoi produced a collection radically different from her previous work in order to develop her career within the USA. Here is one example of her Infinity Net paintings. The incessant quality of this gesture is both obsessive and meditative. They anticipate the serial techniques employed by minimal and conceptual artists, although the insistently handmade quality of these paintings demonstrates Kusama’s technical facility and stamina.
The most wonderful finale to such a prolific life’s work was the Inifinity Mirrored Room which perfectly depicts infinite space with the use of mirrors and light. The Infinity Mirrored Room - Filled with the Brilliance of Life is the largest such installation Kusama has made to date.
Pictures in Stone at the Brooklyn Museum
After a busy time at the New York Gift Fair I was in need for some down time wondering New York galleries. These pictures caught my eye in the Brooklyn Museum. They are stone works that are modern takes on age old Italian artisan traditions. The ancient Romans were renowned for their coloured stoneworks in mosaics in which small stones are set in cement and pietra dura, the term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted highly polished coloured stones to create images.
Post World War II, Gino Severini and Enrico Prompolini were two Italian painters who occasionally turned their hands to these ‘pictures’ in stone in using this ancient tradition. The way in which the cut hard stones are cemented within the pictures make it seamlessly fit together.
