Michela De Pellegrin

05/05/14

#Japan2014

Old travel books and new ones. Paper sheets, notes I've taken for ages and blue ink. Good vibrations, places I'd like to go, pictures I can't wait to take, roads I will walk through for real.

I mean, this is going to be a great summer. Won't it?

05/04/14

DIY Ikebana {Indoor hanami}

Dopo che abbiamo bevuto assieme, amici cari

facendo galleggiare fiori dei susini nei nostri calici,

non mi importa se quelli dell'albero non vi sono più.

- Man'yōshū -

After having drunk together, dear friends of mine,

letting floating the plum-tree flowers into our glasses,

I don't mind if the ones on the trees aren't there anymore.

(Translation of mine)

If you live in a Northern Italy small town on the mountains, you might miss the cherry blossom season you have admired in Tokyo once. This is why I blew the dust off a book about Ikebana and tried to recreate a kind of indoor hanami putting together some blossomed branches from my favourite trees of the garden.

I assembled:

Plum-tree: that most resembling a cherry one

Pyrus: my favourite pinky short-lived flowers tree

Magnolia: for an Asian touch of spring

02/04/14

#sakurandom {2nd edition}

Another year has passed and it's time again to celebrate the hanami season together on the web. The idea came out on Twitter (#sakurandom) one year ago and I'm glad to announce that this year we celebrate our second edition full of pink falling flowers, gathering ideas and springy views.
Everyone is invited to this virtual pic-nic under the cherry trees.
You just need to take your imagination and your will to share ideas and pictures on your Twitter, Pinterest and blog. Are you in?

Find more here:
www.bibliotecagiapponese.it
www.nihonexpress.blogspot.com
www.giapponepertutti.it
www.sabrinamiso.com
www.wanderinjapan.com
www.patrickcolgan.wordpress.com
www.tradurreilgiappone.com
www.wa-ga-shi.blogspot.com
www.viaggiappone.com

17/03/14

Iki, The Art Of Seduction

On Friday night I went to the opening of a pretty exposition in Pordenone. It took place in a concept store, Être, a place you immediately feel comfortable in it. There, Magda Di Siena presented a small collection of pictures portrayed young geisha from the early 50s. The "postcards" were found at an antiquary shop based in Tokyo coming from a private collection of an Okiya, the geisha house.

What a perfect occasion to hear and discuss together starting from the "Structure of the Iki", a well-known work by Shūzō Kuki, one of the most prominent Japanese philosopher of his times.
いき means "seduction", the first art a geisha has to learn.

Knowing Iki is perceiving the fragrance of an entire culture. And maybe it helps us knowing how much 'being' is important for another life. (Shūzō Kuki)

Pics © Moustaches

22/01/14

Japanese Pattern

I do have a crush on repeated geometrical shapes and this is why I adore Japanese ceramic and traditional geometrical fabrics. You can easily understand why I was so thrilled when I found out this small collection of typical motives with a brief description of their names and significances.

My favourite is the Asanoha (麻葉) one that I chose for my beloved bowl bought in London, remember? The name can be translated into "hemp leaves" and it is one of the most popular, frequenty used in women's obi from the Edo period. It is a six diamond-shape pattern arranged in a radial manner identifying itself with the hemp which grows well and so often used for swaddling clothes.

Well, if you don't get enough, here a small extract from a precious digitalized Japanese album collecting more than 100 examples of stencilled textile common patterns from around 1800 -1900. Adorable!

Credits:
1. 2. 3. 4.

05/01/14

One, Two ... TEA {Tieguanyin}

New year, new column! As I am a real coffee-hater, I let my affection for green tea to inspire me starting a virtual journey across some varieties I filled my beloved tin boxes with!
I have written about Japanese green tea before and you already know I am more devoted to the ritual in itself than to the property of the infused green leaves. That's the reason why I always have my tea-break starting from the choice of the perfect cup (I know it sounds a little bit obsessive!).
As I said before: I am not a tea expert. What I need to do here is giving you a quick overview about my favourite and recent purchases/discoveries.

Let's start from the Tieguanyin (铁观音), a variety of Chinese oolong tea I got from a Chinese language classmate of mine who recently visited Beijing. Guanyin was the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, like Kannon is for the Japanese culture. The name of the tea can be properly translated into English like "Iron Guanying", a trubute to this female entity that, legendary, gave a poor farmer, Mr. Wei, a precious tea shoot as a reward for having taking daily cares of the iron statue of the Goddess by the Fujian province. That was the very beginning of the production and selling of this Chinese green tea variety with a very flowery, fresh aroma and golden yellow shade.