Powerful work!
A collection of heart beats, from all over the world.
Like fingerprints; heart beats are unique. Captured, the human memory seems to live on... 

I have been reading about "Les Archives du Cœur"- The Heart Archive; work by French artist Christian Boltanski currently showing at the Teshima Art Museum. I wish I'd had the time to go and check it out myself when I was recently in Japan.

Boltanski collects recordings of human heartbeats, the installation is then kept at this site permanently, on the uninhabited island of Teshima. Visitors are invited to donate a recording of their own heartbeat in a little booth join the archive with the 15,000 others.

“I am interested in what I call ‘little memory’, an emotional memory, an everyday knowledge, the contrary of the Memory with a capital M that is preserved in history books”, Boltanski says. “This little memory, which for me is what makes us unique, is extremely fragile" says Boltanski (via Serpentine Gallery)

Teshima Art Museum is shaped like a drop of water, a floating droplet on an island.

"...two oval openings allow the air, sounds, and light of the world outside into this organic space where nature and architecture seem intimately interconnected. Inside one finds an ever-flowing fountains and an ambiance that changes from hour to hour and season to season, revealing countless appearances as time passes."

More information about the exhibition available on the Naoshima Fukutake Art Museum website; Benesse Art Site

Vendome Aoyama has released a range of jewelery designed by Kengo Kuma; very simple, beautiful pieces which seem to be inspired by his architectural work. The Oribe range is my favourite.

I've recently discovered a connection between two Japanese artists who I admire;
Tadao Ando the architect and Issey Miyake, my favourite fashion designer.

Miyake is one of the directors of 21_21 Design Sight ; a kind of museum, gallery and research space for design in Tokyo.
Ando was the architect given the awesome brief of "a structure which would represent Japan".

Regarding the design process for the building, Ando explains
"...it was said that, "If there were one nation in the world whose demise would have serious consequences it would be the Japanese." I interpret this statement to mean that we mustn't allow the characteristic Japanese aesthetic to die out. Aesthetics also include things like a sense of responsibility and a sense of justice. They also incorporate a respect for other people and for nature, an appreciation of the gift of life, and courtesy. They even extend to the ability to look at the world around one, properly."
via 21_21 Design Sight



21_21 Design Sight building; the roof is one sheet of folded steel which echoes the single piece of fabric  that Miyake uses to make his garments. So elegant! 

The current exhibition is on til Sunday 31: THE SPIRIT OF TOHOKU: "CLOTHING" BY ISSEY MIYAKE






Pleats Please by Issey Miyake via FIDM

His garments in the Pleats Please range are pleated after being cut and sewn so as to retain their knife pleats to perfection. Miyake is a true innovator of design!

Ando is perhaps best known for his Church of the Light, a small Church in Ibaraki, Osaka Japan. Slits in the concrete reveal a cross shape when the sunlight peaks through. The incredible concrete walls are 15 inches thick, and yet the space is equally defined by the light as the solidness of its structure. 
Simple yet sublime.



photo by Sanghyun Lee via http://www.andotadao.org/

take a look at the website for more info re 21_21 Design Sight
http://www.2121designsight.jp/en/