Mino Movie & Elevator Jingles!

Konnichiwa!!!
So one of the guys from the team at the project I did in Japan came across a little movie of the exhibition that I did called 'Let Momo Eat Cake' at the 'Mino Washi Museum' and kindly shared it with me. It features the series of work that I created during my time there alongside the work of my lovely, fellow artists in residence, Yoko, Kris and Lena. I especially love the cheesy elevator music that accompanies the montage!!! My stuff is at the end so check it out and don't ask me what the subtitles say as I can't speak the lingo!
For those of you that don't know about the project, I basically spent 3 months living in a small town called Mino, in Gifu Prefecture working with the 'Mino Paper Art Village Project'. I produced a collection of work titled 'Colourful Creatures are Often Poisonous' which you can peep at HERE if you like! We did a whole bunch of fun stuff from paper making to lantern workshops and I also exhibited a piece at the annual 'Akari Art Festival'. Iwas living in a real life Buddhist temple at the top of a hill and got involved in all sorts of antics ranging from almost being killed by a wild boar, dancing around in a Peruvian poncho and eating jacket potatoes with chopsticks. It was a weird and wonderful adventure with the chance to meet so many awesome people and I took about a million photos during my time getting down in the countryside!!! I haven't unleashed these pics on here before, so here's some snapshots from my stint in Mino!!!

I miss this place and the days of drinking an everlasting supply of Matcha latte!!!
Love and Sparkles,
Emma
xxx

Ciao 2010, Hello Next Adventure!

Ooh hiya!
I intended to churn out some kind of round-up and Happy New Year speile when it was actually new year...not when it's nearing the end of January...but anywayzzz...
Can't believe how fast this past year has zipped by...I also can't believe that I have spent the most of it overseas with only the odd week here and there to indulge in home stuff like Hollyoaks, beans on toast and veggie lasagne!
2010 for me was quite different compared to the normal shizz I've been up to this past few years...for one I wasn't in London and secondly I've worked on a series of projects opposed to my seasonal Fashion Week shows...
At the start of the year I had the pleasure of working with my chum and magical stylist Alexis Knox on a whole bunch of stuff....we saw it all from climbing up ladders at music video shoots...to creeping around filming in spooky, old pubs! Fun times! We also whipped over to Copenhagen to cover fashion week for Notion Magazine...that was a cheap laugh too!
A huge chunk of the year was spent working on curating and directing the 'Fish and Chips, Twice Please?!' exhibition that was hosted over in Vienna with the lovely Polona Dolzan. Such a fun project to work on and great to have so many talented people on board...and just to mention it one more time...WE GOT JUST UNDER 30,000 VISITORS!!!WEEEEEEEEE!
It was awesome to be based in Central Europe for a while and to create my SS11 collection alongside a load of curly palaces, schnitzels and lederhosens!
I was sad to say farewell to Vienna after so long but, excited as the next delight was 3 months working over in Japan....which I've already gone on about a lot recently....so I'll pipe down!
One of the things I've loved most this past year was to work in totally different surroundings and have the opportunity to work with a lot of new people...it's been a fun one!
Was lovely to come back to the UK over the Christmas and have a nice long kip...and FINALLY my luggage turned up so now I have a ridiculous amount of trinkets and treats that I brought back from Japan!
Right now I'm preparing to head of on my next adventure as next week I'll be whizzing off to Taipei to start on my next project...I'm going to be based in Taiwan for the next few months as Artist in Residence and imagine my delight when I found out they have a temple made of shells and a Hello Kitty Maternity hospital! So I'll be updating on that once I'm there!
Ooh also got an exciting parcel this morning...the catalogues from the 'Let Momo Eat Cake' exhibition arrived! Exciting stuff! You can see a picture of them above alongside a recent feature of the new collection!
Right, I'm off to make lunch and then get crafty with some dyeing!
Love and Sparkles
Emma
xxxx

'Let Momo Eat Cake'

Happy New Year and all that!
Thought I would share some pictures from the exhibition that is currently displaying my new pieces that I created whilst in Japan. The exhibition is called 'Let Momo Eat Cake' and also showcases the work of my fellow artists in residence, Yoko Iwanaga, Kristen Plucar and Lena Bui. The presentation opened last month and will run until 10th January at the Mino Washi Museum in Gifu Prefecture.

The opening of 'Let Momo Eat Cake' marked both the end of my project as well as my departure from beautiful Japan. So alongside the gallery launch I also had the task of clearing out my studio, which had pretty much become my second home throughout the past 3 months as a result of the ludicrous amount of hours I spent in there!

It's been awesome working from the studio of dreamsss...we have seen plenty of action...from cake stealing dogs, poisonous centipedes, buns for lunch, late night disco times, juggling ball extravaganzas and plenty of intense gossip sessions! It was so much fun working alongside the girls and I learned to do random stuff like build a lantern and fill up a heater with kerosine....hardcore life skillzzz 'innit??? It was amazing to be able to base myself in Japan for a few months and take advantage of all the opportunities to carry out a load of new research, work with different people and of course experiment with some alternative materials.
It was also great to be able to branch out and take a few trips so I got to see and shop in more places in Japan!
I spent my birthday working in Tokyo on the shoot of my final pieces of work and it was so much fun to work with a whole new bunch of people in a totally different environment...team Tokyo totally rules and I would like to say MEGA THANKS to the crew that helped in creating the images; Yuji, Nao, Chika and Olga!!!

The Tokyo trip in itself is a whole other blog post...so hold your horses for that one!
It was 5 years since my last trip to Japan and I left this time loving it even more! I came back to the UK for Christmas with a ridiculous amount of luggage as a result of all the amazing bits and pieces I picked up over there...however I'm yet to see any of it as my baggage is MIA somewhere in Paris which totally sucks ass as I want to wear my Kimono and use my new cute baking tins!
So I was sad to leave Japan and I will miss things like the 100 yen stores, amazing shopping, grape Fanta, sachets of Matcha latte, awesome magazines, huge tofu sections in supermarkets, super hot boys, appliances that play music and heated toilet seats....however I will certainly not miss the wildlife and I will maintain my fear of nature...that includes snakes, spiders, bears and wild boars!!!
Anways if you happen to be in Gifu...pop along to the museum and check out the exhibition!!!!
Love and Sparkles
Emma