Economy is so out of control, there is a huge desire for people to go back to basic... and focus on home - the ultimate personal environment where they can still make differences, be surrounded by clean/green artifacts and bring sense of comfort and focus to their lives. Combine home accessories+warmth of craft and artisan, you get the ReForm School.
ReForm School has been on our list of "shop to visit" for a long time. It's located on Sunset Blvd. in the heart of Silverlake neighborhood in LA. The store is filled with vibrant energy and care that shows in their attention to detail.Their selection is a nice mix of design and craft, very happy to see some unexpected items like Repurposed Seatbelt Hammock (pic on the bottom) that are not carried in other design stores in LA.
February 28, 2009
February 08, 2009
Bergamot Station
If you are visiting LA and are interested in arts & design, Bergamot Stations in Santa Monica is a good stop to make. On the historical site of red line trolley station, you will find Southern California's largest art gallery complex and cultural center.
Here is a highlight from our visit yesterday.
Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reefs by the Institute for Figuring. Surreal landscape made of colorful crochet creatures. Details on this crochet objects are mind blowing.
The Midden - two years worth of Margaret and Christine's plastic trash.
Curated here by Jemima Wyman. With wall hanging "midden monsters" by
Evelyn Hardin and Christine.
This exhibit portrays a strong relationship between the power of communal craft and a collective cause toward protecting environment.
Somewhere between art and design, there is The Gallery of Functional Arts. A lot more interesting and eclectic than mainstream museum store.
I can't find artists' name on this exhibit but the technique he used to create his art pieces was really interesting.
It looked like he painted wooden panel with black/white paints and etched these intricate pattern with 2D prototype machine (maybe laser cut machine?) using digital generated file. It creates a very subtle 3D textures.
If you get overwhelmed looking at all the arts, you can always get a nice cup of coffee at the cafe. Their avocado sandwich and Mexican hot chocolate are delight.
the weather worked for our favor. It was a beautiful LA Saturday afternoon after heavy rain.
August 11, 2008
Royal/T - cosplay themed cafe/gallery
We had an opportunity to check out Royal/T; a new cafe/gallery recently opened in Culver City. The restaurant is inspired by the meido kissa (maid café) phenomena of Akihabara. It's a place where you can enjoy being "otaku" without being totally creepy because the hybrid space of cafe/gallery/shop is so awesomely cool. Birthday party at the next table.
Hybrid of cafe/gallery space
Classic Japanese manga (comic book) collection
August 02, 2008
Unexpected green spaces in the cities
Last night I got a twitter message from my friend pbullock that she "Just initiated some guerilla gardening with my neighbor on Main and 3rd" in Los Angeles downtown (Got to love your trendsetter friend). While I am waiting to see some of the pictures from her... I started thinking that downtown would be an interesting place to live if there are more "creative" green spaces. Not having enough resources to build conventional green areas (aka: park) is probably one of a reason why the greens space is scarce in downtown. So I dug around online and found a few very creative ways to "up" the unexpected green spaces in a dense city.
Portable garden via Yanko Design designed by Kevin VanBraak.
Green panel via Apartment Therapy designed by YABG. We've seen a lot of vertical green walls but modular approach might work better. Also really like the affect of "pixel" look. Would be a great opportunity for an urban advertisement?
And let's not forget about PARK(ing) Day coming up on September 19th, 2008.
June 22, 2008
LA to TJ Mobile Conference: Connecting Goods, People, Idea
We had an opportunity to attend LA to TJ Mobile Conference organized by Colors of Green Committee and Latino Urban Forum. The conference was hosted in a very unique style. We took a train from Union Station in Downtown LA to Santa Fe Depot in San Diego. Along the way, train passed multiple spots that are either controversial and/or influential to LA region's economy and wellness including LA River, 710 Freeway and Irvine great Park Site. Each speaker spoke briefly about key topics such as air quality, health, housing, open space, transportation while train passed by the area relevant to those topics. Our organizer James Rojas put it in the perfect sentence. "Our slide show is the view from the train".
Listening to the speaker on the train
Few interesting points we learned from the conference.
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June 20, 2008
Ready for being fashionably anti-car?
Los Angeles MTA (metro) ridership is hitting the record highest while the infamous LA traffic is starting to show the decline in congestion (link to LA Times). It might be the beginning of LA consumers' mindset change from heavily car dependent to fashionably anti-car. For those of you who are ready to make the shift, we came across perfect bicycle basket carrie that could also be used as a shopping basket at the grocery store. Who wouldn't be tempted to pull out the old bicycle from the garage when we have such a whimsical accessory?
June 16, 2008
Household Hazardous Waste & E-waste @ Pasadena Rose Bowl
We dropped off our out-of-life Epson printer at Hazardous Waste Collection held at Rose Bowl on Saturday. (link to previous post). It was impressive to see how organized the process was and how easy and accessible it was for residents. It might have been one of the best public service we have ever encountered living in LA for last 13 years. (link to more photos) Guys in white suits came to pick up the items from our trunk. We were not allowed to step out of the car.
Everything was very organized and we were able to drive-through in 5 minutes.
He was the one who got our Epson printer out of the trunk. Thank you!
June 12, 2008
June 09, 2008
Dwell on Design: Sun Table
We saw this cool outdoor coffee table at Dwell on Design LA. Called Sun Table designed in Brooklyn, NY. The table top can be tilted in order to maximize the exposure to the direct sun light. It takes 4 hours of sunny day to fully charge the table and gives 5~6 hours of laptop usage. It works great as a table too. I saw a guy jumping on top of the table to show the stability and it looked pretty sturdy. Object like this helps us to harvest our own energy needs w/o completely changing the lifestyle. Also it provids convenience of "ready-to-plug" feature to the areas where there is no outlet (like your yard). Great idea.
June 08, 2008
Sumo: Japanese wrestling
We went to see Grand Sumo (Japanese wrestling) Tournament at LA Memorial Arena last night. Not only Sumo is an exciting sport to watch but also is composed of amazing rituals that have been kept untouched for centuries. A lot of rituals are there to ensure Sumo wrestlers' well being while they compete through the seasons (Each season lasts 14 days). You can watch the video of the introduction of Sumo here. Though it was my first time watching the game in LIVE, we've grown up watching them on TV while we lived in Japan. It's a lot like football here in US. Everyone in Japan watches the game. I have to say it was a very surreal experience to be surrounded by the sounds which I remember very deep in my head and to know how rooted these memories are in what makes us who we are.
These cultural events hosted in the city are big draws for non-Japanese people who are interested in exotic events creating bridges between cultural differences; meanwhile, a great opportunity for Japanese community to come together and be reminded of how connected we're to where we're from. opening ceremony
wrestlers stretching before they enter the arena. They are about 300lbs and above!!
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