it's true!

via homestead

why oh why wasn't THIS above image the exact print they had for sale on etsy? it was at the top of my christmas list (even though it doesn't technically exist...my imagination i tell ya')!

yayoi kusama.

remember when i mentioned japanese artist Yayoi Kusama here and here? well, i thought i'd show you a bit more of her work and some of her pieces i own (of the dishtowel and paperweight variety...). she does pretty cool, kooky stuff. i studied Kusama a couple of years ago at uni and she's a very interesting character. she lives in an institution in tokyo (which in essence makes her an 'outsider artist') and travels to and from her studio everyday. polka-dots feature heavily in her work and are derived from the hallucinations she has suffered from since childhood.

the best is how in the 60's she move to nyc and would arrange 'happenings' all over the city, usually in protest against the vietnam war and often involving her being nude and embellished with flowers, sequins, polka-dots (of course) or what have you (total avant-garde, in-yo-face, hippie flower child, love it).

oh, anddddd...she's now in her 80's and still going strong. she just recently collaborated with Marc Jacobs- what a lady!

via google images

et voilà my Kusama collection:

lookin' down on creation.

on top of the world...a rare angle in interiors photography. i quite like this new perspective :::refreshing:::

 via batixa

via sfgirlbybay

rust never sleeps.

an alternate view of pesky rust...pretty.

via batixa

new favourite tumblr...

so many tumblrs, so little...nope, i actually found the time to scroll back for pages and pages and pages.  the variety and quality of the images was so inspiring and satisfying.  check out batixa.

i have always loved Devon. perfect little porcelain doll face.

of course the japanese and printmaking aspects of this got me immediately.

and this is definitely a japanese ceramic plate with a little gecko that reminds me of mexico. a nice mix of two favourites :)

neato!

check out this site anne-maree passed onto me. how great!

photo via olive (through ams info)

yowza!

and i thought iiii had some beautiful rugs- oof!

amber interior design

success!!

our cranes finally got a chance to leave the nest! yesterday was a great team effort and went so well. i brought down all of my japanese ceramics and a florist friend brought gorgeous blooms for the display. i was about to lose my mind first thing though because all of the strings had tangled together in transit...but luckily two lovely friends spent almost an hour untangling every last one for me!  there were beautiful little helpers in kimono and smiling, helping hands all around. it did rain on and off, which was un petit peu annoying, though we even had perfect parasols for that (but, of course!). people traveled from near and far, i got to see friends that i haven't seen in yeaarrrrssss and even made a few new ones.

...so...you wanna' know how much we raised?  i was hoping for 3 to 5k...


at the end of the day the grand total was 3350!!!!


and...we have a woman who's willing to match that!!! so that means we raised 6700 dollars for the Japanese Red Cross in essentially one day!!!! hooray!!

thank you to everyone who came by, gave a donation and helped out in any way. your support means so much. i simply do not have enough hands to have done that without you all. thank you, thank you, thank you x

*for anyone who was not able to make it on the day or friends or family in other parts of the world, you can donate directly to the Japanese Red Cross online.  do it :)