via { f-l-e-u-r-d-e-l-y-s }

 { “Grimoire” } vintage boutique in Tokyo

••••••

The website is beautiful!

I love the nonaligned, floating sets — especially the bit with the ships and maps! Would be great to code this (or similar) without the use of Flash; I’d imagine that the “floating” look wouldn’t be too difficult, but not sure about the drag-able interface. I’ve never attempted the latter outside of ActionScript but have always wanted to use that.

Image: Issey Miyake

Christopher Forte: { Japan — An Ascetic Aesthetic }

There is a notion of modesty and subtlety, a respect for ceremony and procedure, an approach to duty and honor – that is unique to Japan. To the western eye these values are construed as anything from hopelessly anachronistic to downright obsessive – yet they contribute to a reverence for aesthetics that is utterly unique and exquisitely complex. This distinctive approach to all that appeals to the senses has, over centuries, imbued the Japanese with a veritable omnibus of terms that define everything from the simplest idea of placement (shibui: austerity of taste – not concealing the true nature of an object – a vase is a vase, a toaster is a toaster…) to the most esoteric concepts of shaping space (aji: where the incongruity of the object speaks of the congruity of the whole – the idea of sleeves filled with nothing, of space filled only with color…)