Romance Was Born

















I still remember the day my friend Olivia and I took Romance was Born's Anna Plunkett to the Century Tavern when she first moved to Sydney keen to show her the 'cool scene' in Sydney. Looking back now I go pink with embarrassment! Anna and her amazing label Romance was Born (with business partner Luke Sales) are the coolest kids on the block.

You can watch today's Romance Was Born's amazing 'under the sea' Fashion Week show on Vogue TV or for more info look at the Romance Was Born website.


(Joel! How cute are the stamps on the box you sent from Tokyo that is featured on the website!!)

Congratulations lovely Anna on a fantastic show!


Love love
Hello Sandwich
xxx

Pip & Pop Kawaii Pop



Oh my goodness - I am so excited about my recent discovery of Pip & Pop! (Thanks Liane!) Nicole Andrijevic and Tanya Schultz work together as collaborative duo Pip & Pop. Their art practice encompasses installation, painting, photography and wall drawings.

Here is a little note from their press release:
Their abundantly detailed and seductively colourful works are made from an eclectic mix of materials such as confectionery, plastic objects and plants, origami, vinyl, paint, and magazine cut-outs. With child-like optimism and playful working methods, they construct and transform everyday objects into elaborate and joyfully excessive artworks that explore notions of desire, abundance and blissful states of being.

Pip & Pop will be showing at The Japan Foundation in Sydney 15th May - 3rd June as part of the Facetnate series, a grant program in which one of three lucky artists will be awarded a return flight to Tokyo to further their art practice! ah hem...why didn't I know of this sooner!?!! I would have liked to submit my work for possible inclusion! There is always 2010!

Anyway, I hope you will get a chance to see it. And the Japan Foundation library is a must for any Japan lovers! For more info about the exhibition please click here.







By the way, have you watched my art video Kawaii Pop?



Very special thanks to the lovely Pip & Pop for sending through this information. I can't wait to meet you both at your Sydney opening!

楽しみにしています!
エボニー

SANAA + Make it Easy + Shibuya-kei Music

Do you remember the pic I posted on My Tokyo Blog Post just the other day?





See more about this book here.

Well,  it was a lovely pic by SANAA, a team of Japanese architects made up of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. They are the amazing force behind beautiful buildings such as the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Christian Dior building in Tokyo and the Towada Art Centre in Aomori.


The New Museum of Contemporary Art






Towada Art Centre

Check out some more lovely images of the Towada Art Centre on Spoon and Tamago and on this flickr photostream. You can also read more about SANAA on designboom.

Over the weekend I spotted some more of SANNA's work on my new blog crush Make it Easy. The lovely Aron posted here about Moriyama house in Tokyo.















Isn't is just divine! Can we please move in?

Here is what Dwell had to say about Moriyama house: On a double suburban lot in Tokyo, the Office of Ryue Nishizawa built a neighborhood-scaled, flexible-format minimalist steel prefab compound for Yasuo Moriyama—a very private individual with a powerful social bent—and six rental tenants. Every room is its own building—even Moriyama’s bath is a freestanding box.

I am so happy that I found Aron's blog! I especially love this Make it Easy post about being alone but not lonely.

But the loveliest of things is Aron's Perfect Day found on Tiny Abstraction blog.

I would like to wake, naturally, on my own at around 8am. feeling very refreshed and new, and not tired at all. the bright sun would shine through my window slowly warning me up, yet, there would be a nice rain outside that i know is there just from hearing it. i would do the small things i do every morning to make me smile and set up my day for the better. things such as watering my plants, feeding/playing with the cats, checking blogs online, having a nice breakfast, etc. Turning on relaxing music while its still slightly raining outside would be nice too.



As noon approached the rain had stopped and the sky couldnt be any more clearer. a friend or 2, and myself, would decide to go to the beach up at the North Shore. we would pack home made musubi's for our lunch. since the drive there is on a long one-way road, we would have our windows rolled down so we could feel the wind. it would be the kind of drive where no one would have to say anything to each other as we shared a mutual enjoyment for the simple drive itself. if we would glance at each other, there would be a true smile, and nothing more or less. the perfect song for this would be "afternoon speaker" by The Sea And Cake.



The beach would be crowdless, the sun would be glowing on us, and the water would be more than welcoming. everything would be just right, even the breeze would be perfect. we would swim and take polaroid pictures and share the musubi's we made. we would stay until maybe 4pm, or until we turned to a nice golden skin tone.

When i get home, i take a nice cold shower to rinse off all the sea salt. (after a shower from the beach, your skin tends to feel extra soft and has a beautiful glow to it.) i would then start cooking my moms homemade dish that consists of string beans, ground beef, onions and garlic, in a asian stir-fry style. i would bring this dish to my friends house where we are having a intimate get-together where everyone would bring a homemade dish to eat, and some wine. the dinner would be outside in her veranda/garden, under the stars with lanterns, soft string lights, and candles. we would spend the rest of the evening eating delicious food, drinking sweet wine, and talking about the things in life that we all have in common that bring us together as friends. conversations such as love, the future/past, family history, favourites/dislikes, and just anything we tend to share with best friends on an amazing level of understanding that no one else could know.

Lastly, we're put out a huge blanket for all of us to lay on as we stared into the universe. there would be star-gazing music playing as we counted how many shooting stars we could see. with a great group of friends, laying under the vast sky...it feels so good to feel so small.

That would be my perfect day.

So delightful! Reading that makes me smile! If you visit Aron's blog, and I urge you all to, you will hear the most peaceful music, but in case that is not lovely enough, Aron has posted about some other great Japanese music. And now I can't stop listening to the super cute music from Advantage Lucy on Myspace and Nagisa Cosmeic who remind me of Capsule (remember I mentioned them here).

It reminded me how much I love Shibuya-kei music! If you're in the mood, listen to some Shibuya-kei music here

I can't wait to buy some new Japanese music from Shibuya's Tower Records in June!
楽しみにしています!