Surely Ideas Love You, Monsieur Maurice Roucel – An Extract from "KyotEau: Bottled Memories".

The French master perfumer Maurice Roucel says, “Though it is never clear where ideas exactly come from and how they announce themselves is unpredictable, I get ideas from everywhere, all the time. I can’t go through life anymore without allowing myself to be constantly inspired by anything. Just walking around can be enough – being open to different things, people and surroundings…” To Monsieur Roucel, what appears to be a spontaneous thought may well have been a long time cooking in the unconscious, just like a baby learns to walk and an adult learns to drive. As John Cage declared, “I have nothing to say and I am saying it.”

However, when it comes down to how creativity operates, Monsieur Roucel believes that a designer sketches in order to create the beautiful shape of perfume bottle; a musician writes musical notations to compose the greatest piece of harmonious music; a perfumer formulates ingredients to create the most memorable fragrances. For when it’s all said and done, Monsieur Roucel sees that ideas can sometimes be conjured up with practice, intuition, and new prospective.

Andy Warhol once explained: "I just paint things I always thought were beautiful - things you use every day and never think about." Ideas are subversive and they come in various guises. If you pay attention to them, they come to you. The angel of inspiration seems to favor those who have a promiscuous curiosity and enthusiasm.

The Graphics of Finland III: Think of The American Artist Ed Ruscha 芬蘭的圖像之三

I am a designer, who photographs a bit.

I like to stroll down on the side-streets of everyday searching for the awareness of real life. I take things as I find them.

In this photo, the industrial complexes reminds me of Ed Ruscha, the American artist who is well-known for his strongly graphic work, such as the most iconic of American typographic expressions, the landmark, and once-temporary-now-permanent HOLLYWOOD sign that symbolizes his hometown to the rest of world.

Of course, there is no trace showing Ruscha's trademarked Americanism message in this photo. But on my first glance of this Finnish landscape, the faceless buildings, the endless gray sky, the flock of crows, the energy towers, and the smoky chimneys stand for anonymity, in the tradition of Ed Ruscha's "neuter gender" Black & White photography created between 1961 and 2001.

Like Ruscha's work, this photo is not something pregnant with meaning, but rather a documentary of my Finnish experience in a visionary manner.

The Graphics of Finland II: The "Green" Sled Design 芬蘭的圖像之二

I love fashion design but I am not a fashionista. I am not here to talk about the season's must-have "green" fashion product out of a brand strategy. We have seen so many sustainable products from bag to shoes to clothes and on and on, emerging from fashion companies jumping on a savvy marketing opportunity. Here, I am just pleased to share a simply wonderful green (sustainable) design with you.

On an icy afternoon in March, I passed Cafe Regatta where I often take my afternoon break. I was heartened when I saw this salvational type of sled dutifully standing by for passengers on the snow. From an aesthetic point of view, this sled is far from a true design sensibility, and is too much of hippie-ness and naive. We all know that no matter how "green" this red sled design is – will not really help combat global warming or reduce our collective carbon footprint. But it was delightful to see that the manner of the builder was paying attention to a simple design with the existing materials from the surrounding. Things with contrast messages always attract me. Take this sled as an example: The red color reveals a green concept; the not-so-cool design warms your heart and makes you smile. After all, a good design doesn't have to come from a big concept.

According to the report from New York Times: some 2,670 new green products were introduced in 2006; the number has almost doubled since then. But the reality is that – most people say they want to do the right thing when making purchasing decisions but not ALL people actually do. However, I think the idea of simply creating more greener products is a good starting point. And the more of us out there doing, the better.

The Graphics of Finland I: Cherries On The Ice 芬蘭的圖像之一

In Alain de Botton's book, The Architecture of Happiness, he mentioned about the French abbot St. Bernard of Clairvaux traveled all the way around Lake Geneva without noticing the beautiful lake was even there. I still can remember how astonished I was when I first read it – Alas, St. Bernard.

As a graphic designer, I truly feel sorry for St. Bernard's determined efforts to scorn visual experience. Nature is divine, and I believe we always can find something more in nature than in books or galleries. Perhaps sensing that Nature is the best creative resource, and that walking has made me discover some significance about myself – I take a walk, rain or shine. Even under the harsh winter climate of Finland, I am bundled-up and march on the snow.

There is no shortage of ideas from Nature in any seasons. One day, while I was walking along the Baltic Sea under the weather of -7°C, my eye got caught by some delicious "cherries" sitting on the top of ice (in fact, they are buoys). I stopped and suddenly realized that I was exploring the discovery of visual analogy: "cherries on the ice" versus "buoys on the water".

Ideas come from anytime and anywhere. I was intrigued by the graphic landscape I saw that day and decided to work on a series of photography project to portrait Finland.

Imaginary Memory

I have three kinds of memories: A. Those that I can’t remember well. B. Those that I can remember and that actually happened. C. Those that I can remember despite them never happening. Example of A: I don’t remember when I made my first step. I can’t remember which sock I put on first when I got up in the morning. Example of B: I remember the first kiss from the boy I loved. I don’t like to remember how I broke up with him. Example of C: I like to visualize people as apes when they are deliberately unpleasant to me, and I imagine them as having fallen behind in the process of human evolution. Stanley Kubrick, one of the greatest movie directors of the 20th century, exploited imaginary memory to the extreme when he made his most famous and influential film–2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1968, when he was asked to comment on the metaphysical significance of the movie, he replied: "It's not a message I ever intended to convey in words. 2001 is a nonverbal experience.... I tried to create a visual experience, one that bypasses verbalized pigeonholing and directly penetrates the subconscious with an emotional and philosophic content." Artistically, this movie proved pioneering and inspired many of the special effects-driven films, which were to follow the success of 2001. During the working process of this film, manufacturing companies were consulted about the design of both special-purpose and everyday objects in the future. His co-author, science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, even predicted that a generation of engineers would design real spacecraft based upon 2001 "even if it isn't the best way to do it". Kubrick’s imaginary memory brings to life the creative process of his filmmaking and continues to fascinate contemporary audiences and critics. The famous Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw says, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’ “ Sometimes, questions are more important than answers, especially for the creative mind.

A Liquid Memory

Water, Sui (water in Chinese), or Mizu (water in Japanese)–we came up with a sound for it. The words themselves are inert. But it gets really intriguing when we use that same system of symbols to communicate all the abstract and intangible things that we are experiencing. As I drank the memory of the water glass from the café in New York, the symbol of the water glass blended in with the things I was seeing in Kyoto. And before long, the melancholy of New York and the enchantment of Kyoto merged into a single unspeakable emotion. As a designer, I wanted to visualize this emotion.

How to bottle the liquid memory of Kyoto? What scent captures these emotions? And what shape should the bottle be?

I have a chronic attraction to problems to be solved, and it is the most fun part of being a designer.