Post-Maker’s Faire

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How do I get back to Japan!?!

I’m sitting down for my first taste at Himawari, which has been proclaimed to be the best ramen house in the Bay Area. I’m eagerly anticipating the aroma and flavor of the broth. For good measure I’ve also ordered a round of spicy tuna. And I’m currently enjoying the smooth, faintly sweet taste of the Kurosawa sake from Nagoya.

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Himawari. It’s funny, that was the name of the building I stayed in at the orphanage in Kyoto. It was a small, two-story structure. Kitchen, laundry and large open-plan room downstairs, with restrooms, four bedrooms, and a tiny common room upstairs.

Thoughts of returning to my Japanese studies are running through my mind. But what is the end-game? Is it just for my temporary entertainment? Will further cultivating a familiarity with Japanese culture help my design career? Perhaps…

So maybe a valuable next step will be to identify potential intersections of Japanese culture and industrial design opportunities.


Maker’s Faire 2012

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It’s a hot day in San Mateo. I’m excited to be at Maker’s Faire again. I’ve come in search of inspiration… and some tasty treats.

The Brie, pesto and tomato buckwheat crepe is delicious! Hopefully I’ll still have room for ramen at Himawari.

[late afternoon recap]

Well, I did not leave Maker’s Faire as inspired as I was expecting to be. But I had some success. I met Krystal, the new junior industrial designer at LittleBits, the maker of the tiny color-coded, plug-n-play electronic circuits.

The other great find was Howtoons, illustrated versions of how-to instructions with a bit of artistic narrative and charm. Apparently the dude draws for Marvel during the day.

After getting Krystal’s card and picking up the Howtoons book (and a print) I said goodbye to my housemate Clint at the pedal-power stage and walked back to the car in the heat that finally feels like summer.

Himawari doesn’t open until 5:30 so I ducked into Kobeya for some aromatic vegetable curry with gyoza. … Damn, I really miss Japanese culture!

I’m seriously considering swinging by the Asian grocery, getting second dinner at Himawari and then going home to watch Tanpopo!!!!! Excited by that idea!

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Mother’s Day

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Hey Mom,

I miss you so much!!!

I had a great day with dad. You would have enjoyed our adventure. We hiked ten miles in Tilden Park. First we visited the top of inspiration point but were unimpressed with the parking lot at the vista. We found much more inspiration at Peace Grove, which offered a 360 view. We ate a picnic lunch including Ambrosia apples, St. Andre Brie (from Normandy) and breads from La Boulange.

On the walk we saw several lizards and a large snake! We also found the remains of a raccoon tail. It was just the very tip, so hopefully the critter made off with the rest of his coat intact.

On the way down from the hill we stepped into Mr. Mopps. Both of us were surprised to find it open on a Sunday but apparently it has been for over a year! I fondly remember one day back in junior high when I claimed a sick day and you let me tag along with you on your sales calls. You brought me to Mr. Mopps before setting out on a long drive and bought me a bunch of G.I.Joes and a vehicle for them. I was overjoyed and quite content to play with them for hours in the backseat of the car as you worked. I still have them, and far too many toys. You sure did spoil me and I loved every minute of it!!!

After hugging some giant fluffy stuffed animals dad and I headed to Au Cocquelet in search of a tasty slice of chocolate cake. It wasn’t the greatest but it satisfied our cravings. Then we went to T-Rex to replace all the fuel we burnt on the hike. It seemed like such an appropriate end to the evening. Not only was it a favorite spot of yours but I was also wearing your San Francisco shirt with a bright green tyrannosaurus crossing the Golden Gate bridge. It was almost like you were there with us. I wish it was so!

I love you SO MUCH, mom!!! You will be with me always.

Love,
Tom

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Design Inspiration: Global Village Construction Set

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A recent NPR story reminded me of the Global Village Construction Set, the preeminent project of the Open Source Ecology (OSE) movement. I love this idea. It’s a beautiful marriage of industrial design with social relevance. I could get really into this type of work. I do not have much first-hand experience with rural life but my dad’s side of the family grew up on farmland. Actually, most of the machines in the OSE top 40 list are perfectly appropriate within urban settings.

According to their website:

Open Source Ecology (OSE) is a movement to create the open source economy. The movement consists of hundreds of entrepreneurs, producers, engineers, makers, and supporters around the world – who believe in the power of open – who share the open ethic. The ‘Ecology’ in the name refers to the interaction of natural and human ecosystems – the environmental, societal, and technological systems – as they interact along open principles. Read a further description of the OSE concept as it was formulated initially in 2003 (see Appendix below). Since then, the concept has evolved to a platform for creating distributive enterprise, as a solid foundation for a sound economy – a third economic option beyond capitalism or socialism. The distributive economy paradigm centers around open access to efficient production as a means to transcend artificial material scarcity. The paradigm uses open source tools and techniques to produce advanced civilization – by unleashing the power of the responsible use of technology.

(image and description courtesy of OpenSourceEcology.org)

The low, rumble beats of a score of taiko drummers welcome me as I approach a used office furniture…

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The low, rumble beats of a score of taiko drummers welcome me as I approach a used office furniture store in the flats of Berkeley. This is one in a series of distractions from my mission to clean out the dusty, abandoned remnants of my youth from my dads house in El Cerrito. I’m considering stopping by the Yabusaki’s nursery but I have no room for plants right now.

Sometimes on the way home from school my mom and I would stop in…

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Sometimes on the way home from school my mom and I would stop in Tokyo Fish Market. The store was packed with shelves that in turn were filled to the ceiling. Moving through the store was like being one of the pieces in those puzzles that only have enough room to shift one piece at a time. Each turn filled your eyes with an eclectic array of beautifully packaged goods featuring many distinct styles of illustration and typography. While the entire store amazed me (the brightly-colored fish eggs were equal parts captivating and repelling) I tended toward the little boxes that included both tiny plastic action figures and candy, in varying proportion.

The market eventually expanded into the larger building behind the original store in the photo (which is now an associated gift shop). I still love going there!

(image courtesy of www.tokyofish.net)

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is one of my favorite movies…

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Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is one of my favorite movies of all time. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, this post-apocalyptic epic featuring strong female characters and a respect for nature really inspires me to create stories of my own. Initially, however, I did not watch this movie in it’s original form. A dubbed and heavily edited version of the film was available at the video store near my childhood home, titled Warriors of the Wind. The difference between the two film covers speaks to the richness of content that was deleted from the original work. Still, what remained in the dumb American version was gorgeous to look at.

Some day I’ll track down the original comics, maybe in Japanese, and read the entire story.