Worthwhileness 值得的寶貝

Walking in the Swiss Alps

It rained and the sun came back out. I kept walking until I saw the splendid rainbows across the misty sky.

Often, worthwhileness must be justified by persistence.

太陽玩躲貓貓的下雨天裡，我就這樣走著走著等到薄霧藍天終於出現了兩道彩虹。

值得等待的寶貝通常是需要時間和耐力的堅持，我這樣對著自己說。

Lomo Me

by Zone Hou

by Zone Hou

by Zone Hou

The photographs of Henry Cartier Bresson inspired me to take up street photography. I often carry my Canon 5D around the world with only one lens and without flash. I like to observe and click life on the street, and share the beauty of everyday moments.

Although I fall in love with photography that depicts a scene realistically, I appreciate others’ applications of art to photography. I’m here to show you some photos taken by my very charismatic girlfriend Zone Hou during our visit to Xin Tian Di, Shanghai. Judging by the photos with oversaturated colors, fisheye lens and some other special effects, she is definitely a passionate advocate for lomography.

是法國攝影師 Henry Cartier Bresson 的作品讓我開始涉足街頭攝影。不用閃光、只固定用一個鏡頭，我時常帶著我的佳能5D照像機繞著地球跑。只因為我喜歡透過鏡頭觀察街頭人生, 並且與人分享美麗生命的時時刻刻、點點滴滴。

我熱愛純粹的寫實攝影，但我也欣賞運用另類藝術技術的攝影作品。在此和你們分享我知性迷人的女友 Zone Hou 所拍的作品，那時我們正在上海的新天地蕩遊。從照片上過度飽和的色彩、魚眼鏡頭 及其它特殊效果來判斷，她可是不折不扣的 lomography擁護者。

Confucius Temple Red 孔廟紅

In western cultures, red color symbolizes sexual energy, youth, vivacity and stimulation. Red is power, hence the red power ties for business people and the red carpet for celebrities. 

But red has its more serious side in Chinese culture. Chinese red denotes happiness and prosperity and may be used to attract good luck. Red flag, red lantern, red wedding, red Spring festival couplets... Red is the living color of China!

The Chinese red can be red like vermillion, brick, or the national flag. I personally prefer the red with earth tone highlights, an elegant color like the red wall of Confucius temple in Tainan, Taiwan. The Confucius temple red sumptuously indicates richness, power, and noble and is used to honor the great Chinese thinker and social philosopher Confucius (551- 479BC).

The Art on the Swallow Tail Roof 燕尾脊屋頂上的藝術品

My favorite street in Tamsui, Zhen Li street (淡水真理街)

Green with the drip of dew and rain,

the moss address itself like art on the roof

with curved swallow tail ridge ends.


飽含露水和雨滴的苔蘚,

綠茸茸地將自己襯脫得

像是燕尾脊屋頂上的一件藝術品。

Falling in Love with Marie Galante 戀上瑪麗加蘭

A bakery with colorful interior, Grand-Bourg.

An outdoor painting that depicts Caribbean living.

The local farmers still use oxen to plough a field.

The rhum processing factory ruin in Habitation Murat.

An open fish market where people shop for freshly-caught fish, Grand-Bourg.

The colorful chat (cat in French) has a delicious, delicate flavor. Yum...

Lunch at the fine beach in Folle Anse.

The local fruits always taste better...

Tropical flowers in the medical garden at Habitation Murat.

Falling in love with a place, seems to be largely a question of timing. In this scenario, I was extremely lucky to have the chance to discover the unpretentious simplicity of Marie Galante, during my first sailing trip to the French Caribbeans.

As soon as I set foot in Marie Galante, I was enveloped by the fragrance of coconut and rhum. And its timeless-quality of idyllic scenery made my heart singing Zouk–––the sweet, West-African-influenced, electronicised music of the Antilles (Guadeloupe in French.)

Listen to this.

戀上一個地方, 時間絕對是個主要因素。因此, 第一次出航法屬加勒比海便能及時體驗出瑪麗加蘭小島的純樸簡潔, 讓我覺得幸運無比。

一踏進這個小島, 椰子和萊姆的清香立即撲鼻而來。永永遠遠的田園風光讓我心頭低聲吟唱著容克–––這個受到西非音樂影響的甜美法屬瓜露普電子音樂。

聽聽這個吧。

Singing the Blue Under the Mediterranean Sun 在地中海陽光底下吟唱藍調

In this day and age, blue has been one of the most popular colors 

in design. So I'm not surprised when I read the article from Osmoz.com, a fragrance education website by the perfume house Firmenich, suggesting that blue again is the main color for fragrance bottles in fall-winter 2010.  

As blue is often considered pleasant and can suggest cleanliness, it is widely used by many designers, such as yours truly, for the design of fashion, beauty, industry and brand identity. Although blue is not as obtrusive as colors like red, it is an ideal color for me to interpret the breathtaking beauty of nature, and the attitude to life, culture, art, and spirituality.

There are various shades of blue in my color palette, and my most favorite one is azur (蔚藍). Azur, a bright hue sits between blue and cyan, is an enchanting and soothing color. It often brings back my last memories of brightly shinning summer days at Provence Côte d'Azur (普羅旺斯的蔚藍海岸), which is bathed in azure––the blue color of sky and sea under the Mediterranean Sun.

Elegant Things 優雅情事

Translucent purple petals lit from the late afternoon light.

The unique patterns and textures on quail eggs.

The elongated sculptures by the Swiss artist Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966).

The sound of corks popping out from bottles of Burgundy wine.

An encounter with long-lost friends at museums.

An old grandma's innocent smile of tranquillity and happiness.

A pretty fragrance lingering in the fall evening air.

Things That Arouse a Fond Memory of the Past 喚起我美好回憶的事物

The fragrant blotter cards.
My old Moleskine sketchbooks.
The moon in a clear night.
The tofu cuisine in Kyoto.
The yellow ginko leave that have been pressed in the pages of a book.
The photo of a little red farm storage shed in Norwegian Lapland.

The Raindrops 雨滴

Rain poured down on the entire day, only in the late afternoon it decided to take a break. I left my Mac and books behind a closed door and went for a walk to the garden in the East Village.

I remember my last visit here when the late spring sun bore through the gorgeous clouds. The pink sakura petals were falling...And now all the colors were being carried away by the fall wind.

On the bamboo fences and criss-cross hedges I saw tatters of spider webs; and where the threads were broken the raindrops hung on them like strings of white pearls. I was also delighted by watching the raindrops rolling down of their own accord from the plants where they had lain so heavily. 

There was something so enchanting in the sound and smell of the raindrops–––an invisible beauty with the lingering scent of true nature. What most impressed me was that they were not at all impressed.

My Eight Wonders in Goms, Switzerland–––The True Blue Enzian #8 / 瑞士Goms的八大驚奇–––自我忠實的藍色安堇花 #8

The True Blue Enzian
Enzian* is true blue in itself,
emphatic in pure daylight of the Alps
with the scent of love and hope.

*Enzian is called Gentian Flower in English.

My Eight Wonders in Goms, Switzerland–––The Floral Inspiration #2 / 瑞士Goms的八大驚奇–––阿爾卑斯山的花漾靈感 #2

The Floral Inspiration
On the botanical trails in Simplon, there was always something startling in flower, 
regardless of–––

its texture, 

its shape, 

its smell, 

its color.

A Reader from Australia

From time to time, I receive e-mails from the readers who share their thoughts about my writing and design with me. They are from the continents in the Northern Hemisphere, such as Asia, Europe and North America. But a few days ago, I got a lovely e-mail from an Australian reader, who said he enjoyed reading my latest book KyotEau: Bottled Memories. I know this reader could be doing any number of other things, but he chose to spend his time with me. Just to think about this makes me feel so rewarding and honored. 

After responding to his e-mail, I organized some time for myself to enjoy a soothing, beautiful Sunday afternoon in Liz Christy community garden on Bowery street. As I entered the garden, scents and colors welcomed me from every corner–––tulips, hyacinths, plums, cherries, crocus, snowdrops and Iris–––greens, purples, pinks, yellows, whites and reds. Suddenly a feeling of euphoria spread through me.

Indeed, gardening and writing has something in common. Either to enjoy the scents of flowers or catch the attention of a reader, it requires love, hard work and commitment. 

Thank you for your lovely letter again, my dear Australian reader. KyotEau fragrance is on its way, I promise.

Red Polka Dot

Alexander Calder's sculpture at King Storm Art Center, photo by Della Chuang

Scent triggers memory, so does color. 

Red color reminds me of polka dot.  So naturally, when I was looking through the cut-out circle of the American sculptor Alexander Calder's red sculpture in King Storm Art Center, I thought of the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama((草間彌生), who uses polka dots throughout much of her works.

In the Mood for Indigo

On the market in Sa Pa, Vietnam, I strolled down the narrow alleys among a crowd of indigenous women in different shades of blue.

Suddenly there were these Black H'mong girls in front of me. They seemed enchanted by the sky, gazing upon it solemnly, as if there was a god smiling at them.

When the rice-scented breeze rustled through their tribal garb to lap against their sun-kissed skin, I quietly took a picture of them and immersed myself in indigo melancholy.

photo by della, vietnam

In the Mood for White

When it's snow all around, 

you've just got to stay still 

until you get used to the white.

Gradually,

You'd smell the scent of white 

in your hair, 

in your collar, 

in your heart.

photo by della

In the Mood for Red

 photo by della chuang

To the fashion designer Bill Bass, "Red is the ultimate cure for sadness." And to the painter Wassily Kandinsky, red is very living, lively and agitated, it posses an immense force, it is a movement in oneself.

As for me, red is like the winter sunshine on my face.

Red...

feels warm like velvet

tastes strong like vodka
 

smells spicy like apple cider with loads of cinnamon and clove

sounds merry like the Xmas jingle bells

Yes. Merry Xmas, my dear friends.

In the Mood for Blue

photo by della chuang

Which country

looks blue

sounds blue

feels blue

tastes blue

smells blue?

Finland it is.

Do You Hear My Design? 你聽出了我的設計嗎？

It's known that music can respond and appeal directly to an artist's "internal element" and express spiritual values. On writing, the French poet Charles Baudelaire affirmed that "scents, colors and sounds answer one another". On painting, the Russian artist Wassily Kandinsky had this to say:

"Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key then another to cause vibration in the soul. It is therefore evident that color harmony must rely only on a corresponding vibration in the human soul."

If scent is the music for our nose, color is the music for our eyes.

I don't have a good ear to listen, but I appreciate music. Music allows me a freedom of imagination, interpretation, and emotional response on my design. I especially feel attracted to Bach, whose works are greatly admired for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty.

While working, I like to play Bach's music. I often picture myself walking through fields of paper, touching it with my pencil as if I'm composing the most enchanting music. To me, the organic and geometric shapes that I draw on my sketchbook are like Bach's musical notes that tangle with my joy and happiness.

I was enthralled by Kandinsky's curious gift of colour-hearing (synaesthesia), which he successfully translated onto canvas as "visual music". His artistic ambition got me thinking that, as a designer without the capacity to see sound and hear color, how I can conjure a visual presentation of music that illustrates the affinities between shapes and colors?

Therefore, I crabbed my pencil and started my musical adventure: I drew circles, triangles, and squares, one by one, and filled them in colors. Then, I made them sing with all the intensity I could to create a perfect visual harmony...

My dear readers, this is the creative process of this poster design that I pay homage to Kandinsky. Before you leave let me ask you. Do you hear my design?

Color of the Moment 剎那時光的色彩

One afternoon when I was writing the ‘color’ essay in my silver Mac power book in my New York apartment, it started raining like cats and dogs. The thunderstorm made the room so pitch black. Getting up from my black chair to turn on the yellow light, off-guardedly, I saw the colorful window… Looking out of the brown wooden-framed window, I was struck by the beautiful color abstract scene. I couldn’t see my neighbor’s red brick wall and the green trees in the back yard any more. The silver heavy rain was making the brick wall and the trees almost invisible in a blur of forest green and burgundy. What I was used to see is not what I was seeing. The rhythm of the falling rain is the sound of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s piano. The color vibration of my window is the color palette of Kandinsky.

Kyoto in Colors

In Kyoto, I noticed that I associated colors with some of the things I think about:

To wash my hair, take my bath, and put on a scented yukata is lavender purple in a sunny field.

To take a stroll around Kennin-ji at midnight is hazelnut brown with an enchanting quietude.

To wait under the latticed roof for the sun shower to stop is gold mixed with a rainbow color.

To sleep in a tatami room where some pure and clean incense has been burnt is sage green in the moonlight.

To listen to the sound of cicada on the veranda in the temple where I lodged is white of nothingness.