Esoteric Survey

  It's a great weekend when you come home with a Henry Takemoto. The one on the right needs a little more research. Someone who attended Chouinard Art Institute in the 1950s bought the Takemoto directly from him, along with pots from fellow Otis ceramicists Voulkos, Rothman and Mason. This includes the piece on the right. Early Soleri bell and an uncommon Kenji Fujita pitcher

 Vintage Market at Heath Ceramics in San Francisco  I'll be selling at the first Make Good vintage flea market on Saturday June 14; 10am–5pm and Sunday, June 15; 10am–4pm at Heath San Francisco, 2900 18th Street, San Francisco, CA 94110 There is a great line up with dealers from as far away as Tokyo and Mexico City. I better step up my game on this one. More about the market is available here and  RSVP to the Market here The Good Flea is Heath’s elevated take on a classic flea market, offering visitors a chance to explore a wide selection of unique antiques and artifacts pulled from the private collections of expert curators, vendors, and creative leaders. This group—assembled by Clay Studio Director Tung Chiang—will bring not only hand-chosen vintage finds, but also a deep well of knowledge on design and craft history. Hosted within Heath’s SF tile factory, The Good Flea showcases objects that span eras and styles—including some special finds from Heath’s archive! Enthu...

Hotel Il Palazzo by Aldo Rossi and Morris Adjmi (1989) with the original interior design by Shigeru Uchida. Located in Fukuoka, Japan. Uchida was actually commissioned to design the hotel and called on Rossi to do the architectural design while Uchida did the interior.   It's a post-modern icon and is seen as one of Rossi's most important projects.  Here is the original 1989 design by Shigeru Uchida.   Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc The hotel has changed hands at least couple times over the years. The original furniture was sold off long ago and for very cheap according to a collector friend in Japan.   Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc This is what one of the original Japanese style rooms looked like. All the rooms are western style rooms now as far as I know.  Photo: Nacása & Partners Inc The latest redesign was done by Uchida Design Studio in 2021, since Uchida passed away  in 2016. It's great that they went back to his firm. ...

  This is a couple weekends worth in Japan. The thing I dream about finding when I'm over there is vintage Sori Yanagi. Luckily, I was able find some. Then there are the bronzes.  The iron The animals This is one of my favorite things I came home with and it was a gift. The clay I also picked up a lot of things that just had something about them, like this bamboo kimono hanger.  There were some cute things as well, but I'll stop here.

The Edo-Tokyo Open Air Architectural Museum has been on my list for a while. The House of Kunio Maekawa, seen here was my main motivation.  Edo is the former name of Tokyo, as well as the time period between (1603-1867).  However, the buildings in the museum go well beyond that time period.  Most are from the Meiji Period (1868-1912) or more recent.  The way the museum describes it, during the Edo period, Tokyo lost a large number of important historical buildings because of fires, floods, earthquakes and war. This continues today through redevelopment in a rapidly changing Tokyo. 　In 1993, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government established the museum. The mission "aims to relocate, reconstruct, preserve, and exhibit historical buildings of great cultural value that are impossible to preserve at their original location, as well as to pass on these valuable cultural heritages to future generations." The house was built in 1942 by architect Kunio Maekawa (1905-1986), for hi...