In my earlier posts, I wrote about the abundance of coconut trees in Kerala and their many uses from ingredients in typical foods to the construction of house boats. Another primary use is for roofing. Here at Marari Pearl, it is used unsparingly for most of the buildings from the restaurant to the 20 villas on site. Continue reading
Craft
Resin Painting, Explained By A Master
There is no explanation for how this post relates to other posts on this blog–not much to say about community, collaboration or conservation here. But it fits in with our general appreciation and sharing of stories in which creativity, craft and the broader art world feature. Thanks to the Atlantic, by way of Vimeo, for this five minute wonder:
In this short documentary, filmmakers Jason Stanfield and Jordan Olshansky visit the studio of artist Bruce Riley, who paints abstract wonders with poured resin. His art blooms as he works; each layer of dripped paint reacts with the others, creating deep patterns that bear an uncanny resemblance to what a biologist might see under a high-powered microscope. “It’s obvious when it works,” Riley says. “It’s obvious when it fails.”
Riley publishes photos of his artwork on Flickr. Stanfield and Olshansky frequently collaborate with brands to tell their stories through documentaries. To learn more, visit truestoriessf.com and stanfieldwork.com.
Let Nature Do More Work For Us (Coconuts-R-Us)
Kerala, the state in southwest India where many of Raxa Collective’s initiatives are located, is the “land of coconuts” if you translate the state’s name literally from Malayalam (the language of Kerala) to English. This article in today’s Hindu highlights the introduction of a new bi-product of coconuts at the annual trade fair (click the image above to go to the trade fair’s brochure):
Coir-based organic acoustic panelling system developed
SARATH BABU GEORGE, January 30, 2015
In what could be a major boost to the coir industry, the National Coir Research and Management Institute (NCRMI) has developed a coir-based organic acoustic panelling system.
Christened ‘ACCOIR’, the acoustic panels have been designed in collaboration with the Institute of Indian Interior Designers (IIID) and the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). Continue reading
Craft Ascendant
Local Habit, in San Diego, offers a variety of California craft beers. Beer has become as much a part of the San Diego identity as surf and sun.
CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY EROS HOAGLAND/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
As admirers of well-crafted beer, and of small-scale businesses, we appreciate this post by Tim Wu:
Consider a few surprising and optimistic facts for the new year: nationwide, independent bookstores have grown by about twenty per cent since 2009; meanwhile, American craft breweries collectively now sell more than 16.1 million barrels of beer annually, outpacing, for the first time, Budweiser. This isn’t the only evidence that small-scale businesses are making a comeback. Over the last ten years, the long-running decline of small farms has levelled out, and more than three billion dollars was spent last year on more than four thousand independent feature films. Over all, since 1990, small businesses (with, generally, fewer than five hundred employees or less than $7.5 million in annual receipts) have added millions of employees, while big businesses have shed millions.
None of these developments has individually transformed the American economy, but taken together they represent something. Continue reading
Bookstores, Breweries, Bunk
Local Habit, in San Diego, offers a variety of California craft beers. Beer has become as much a part of the San Diego identity as surf and sun.
CREDIT PHOTOGRAPH BY EROS HOAGLAND/THE NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX
It was already so good at what it did in print, it was easy to wonder what would come next. How to respond to the digital era? The New Yorker‘s transformation has been welcome, and Tim Wu is clearly an awesome part of it, as you may already know:
Consider a few surprising and optimistic facts for the new year: nationwide, independent bookstores have grown by about twenty per cent since 2009; meanwhile, American craft breweries collectively now sell more than 16.1 million barrels of beer annually, outpacing, for the first time, Budweiser. This isn’t the only evidence that small-scale businesses are making a comeback. Over the last ten years, the long-running decline of small farms has levelled out, and more than three billion dollars was spent last year on more than four thousand independent feature films. Over all, since 1990, small businesses (with, generally, fewer than five hundred employees or less than $7.5 million in annual receipts) have added millions of employees, while big businesses have shed millions. Continue reading
Xandari’s Latest Dozen+ Pysanky
As my on-site time with Xandari wound down for the year early this week, I worked to make as many pysanky for the gift shop as possible, since an ornithological expedition in Jamaica will be taking up the first couple months of the new year. In the photo on the right, you can see that I finally got to one of the patterns I’d brainstormed when first starting this project, as well as a repetition of the Alajuelan soccer team insignia egg. Since the little tree for hanging the eggs in the gift shop is pretty full at sixteen eggs already, most of these eggs will stay in the office until an egg is sold or eggs are rotated.
Two adaptations of earlier patterns I developed and another soccer-themed egg, this time for Heredia’s team.
I’m hoping all these eggs, some of which directly reference Xandari and others Continue reading
Water Hyacinth EcoDevelopment Projects
Water hyacinths choke the Poorna river at Tripunithura. Photo: Vipin Chandran; The Hindu
There are many similarities between Indian and Thai river life; watching villagers and people on barges going about their daily lives on the water is one, and the flora and fauna of river life is another. While traveling on the Chao Phraya River it only took a moment to see how the water hyacinths have the potential to choke river traffic. My excitement was piqued when Chananya from Asian Oasis told me that there was an established industry to use the plant for decorative, household and furniture purposes. Continue reading
Kidstuff, Creativity
Thinking of Seth’s recent work at Xandari’s neighboring school, and earlier work in Galapagos, this article strikes a cord:
Laura Carlin’s artistic exercises for young minds
The Phaidon author demonstrates how creativity comes from an active mind not an overly tutored hand
At Phaidon, we understand that a good art education should start early. Yet some books for younger readers aren’t always especially kid friendly. This is why we’ve buddied up with the London illustrator and educator Laura Carlin. Her fantastic new book, A World of Your Own, treats drawing not so much as a skill be to mastered, but as a fantastic toy, to engage a child’s imagination. Continue reading
For All Our Blacksmith Friends, A Tribute
Click the image above to watch an amazing short film. For the short time I spent time apprenticing as a blacksmith, before realizing how amazingly challenging this craft is, I thought I might become someone like this. I did not have it in me. But I learned respect for those who do. So I am happy to share this film for all those with the talent it takes, and those who may not have been quite aware of what it takes:
The Blacksmith: A Short Film About Art Forged From Metal
“I’m exploiting the maximum of what you can ask a piece of metal to do.”
If You Happen To Be In Eleuthera…
Regular readers of this site are familiar with contributor Phil Karp’s wonderful posts about this invasive species. He’s been advising this group in Eleuthera for several months. We wish we could be there!
Can you?
Xandari Pysanky
Sample eggs in the Xandari gift shop
Over the last four days, I made six sample eggs with parts of the designs I had drafted and shared in my last post on the subject. With a slightly limited palette of dye colors (black and purple so far) and an attempt at a home-made coffee-based dye (i.e. coffee), I followed three very simple color schemes and tried a couple different design themes.
I also tried my hand at some vinegar etching, which I had read about recently and seemed like a cool way to Continue reading
Pysanky (Part Three)
Egg blueprints for a previous project
Access Part One and Part Two if you haven’t checked them out yet!
As we reach the end of September, it may seem strange to be posting about a traditional art form that generally revolves around the festivities of Easter. Even though none of my egg creations have had religious foundations behind them, I’ve still always worked on them in the springtime around holy week because that’s the accepted time to be fashioning and gifting “Easter eggs.” Being at Xandari for the past several months, however, where the gift shop could always use another little shelf of locally-crafted artwork souvenirs, I’ve been thinking about making a round of trial eggs to put up for sale and see how it goes. After all, we could dedicate any profits to more artwork supplies for the Tacacorí school or another good local cause. Continue reading
Radio Simplified
The Public Radio can be programmed to one station and one station only. Courtesy of Zach Dunham
National Public Radio (USA) can be forgiven what seems like a potential conflict of interest, giving media attention to a product that shares key brand attributes. There are enough distractions in the world that we can but pick and choose those to pass on here, and this one passes the test due to its innovative simplicity relative to its capacity to induce a smile:
Mason jars have been riding a huge wave of popularity thanks to hipsters who embrace them for pickling projects, cake containers and all sorts of craft creations. Now, two engineers from Brooklyn are turning Mason jars into simple sound machines, to play your favorite FM radio station. Continue reading
Pysanky (Part Two)
A finished egg with most of its wax still present to give texture and a stained glass effect
my favorite traditional pysanky accomplishment so far
For my high school government teacher
a fun design
Darwinian
for a statistician
for a Northwestern University student
an unusual blue
an intense but rewarding design
To continue learning about the process of creating pysanky, Continue reading
Pysanky (Part One)
Several years ago, my aunt gave my mom and me a starter kit to make Ukrainian Easter eggs, knowing that the two of us enjoyed art and working on detail-oriented things. Included in the package was this book, which contains a great history of the tradition as it evolved in communities around the US through the work of Ukrainian immigrants. The book also, of course, explains how to make the eggs and includes many fantastic photos of eggs that the authors or their friends have created over the years, in countless patterns and color schemes. These exemplary eggs have served as perfect inspirational diving-boards for my mom and me as we create our own pysanky every year (when we have the time).
Croatian Easter eggs made for neighbors, friends, and family
The process always starts with creating the dyes. In Croatia, on the island of Koločep where my family lived for a year, we learned that villagers use a boiling water bath of red onion skins, walnuts, roots, and herbs. This creates a reddish dye that stains the egg a reddish color. The problem is that the boiling water also removes the wax that covered the egg before it was placed in the dye, so you only get two shades on the egg, but that’s Continue reading
Floating Fences
At Spice Harbour boats aren’t the only colorful item floating past the property on a daily basis. While the water hyacinth is lovely, it can also clog the water ways and make boating difficult to manage when it piles up along the edges and eddies of the harbour front.
We hired local fisherman to create a floating bamboo fence Continue reading
Bicycle Zeitgeist
We love design and we love bicycles, and we’ve been writing about their innovation-intersection long before Gianluca’s collapsable model came to our attention.
But we’re grateful for the reminders of the creativity that urges us to upcycle, recycle and craft our “ride”.
Gianluca, Come To Kerala!
As the metropolitan area of Ernakulum, where Raxa Collective has many contributors who commute to work, completes its futuristic mass transit scheme, our thoughts reach out to a time when the collapsible bike is a necessity here. For now, we can appreciate the design for its own sake of this model that has just come to our attention.
We like everything we read about it, as much as the visual aesthetics. We even hope we might be of some service to its creator, given our history with entrepreneurial conservation. We are on the lookout, constantly, for opportunities to collaborate with creative craftsmen and to welcome them into Raxa Collective’s growing community across the globe. Conservation magazine brought Gianluca Sada onto our radar. We extend to him our usual invitation for a visit thanks to that:
COLLAPSIBLE COMMUTE
Carrying a bicycle onto a bus or subway for unrideable sections of your carless commute is less than convenient. This is where the Sada Bike fits in. Whereas other foldable bikes have shrunken frames and wheels, the Sada Bike’s full-sized frame folds down to the size of an umbrella; its spokeless, hubless, 26-inch wheels double as a backpack frame.
Bamboo Wind Chimes for Birds
One of the finished chimes
The picture above shows one of a couple bamboo wind chimes that Seth and I built to put up around Xandari. The sound is, err, rather wooden–but definitely mild and pleasant! You may be asking why we took it upon ourselves to demonstrate our mighty artistic prowess. Well, we really had the birds of Xandari in mind with this project. Specifically, a poor Buff-throated Saltator who had thrown himself against the spa window so many times that he had Continue reading
Indian Licorice – Abrus precatorius
Photo credits: Shymon
Indian Licorice (Abrus precatorius) is a native of India and the tropical and sub-tropical areas of the Western Ghats. Despite its name, Indian Licorice is not closely related to the licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) that lends its flavor to candies, beverages, and other foods. The seeds are bright red and black in color and highly poisonous. Continue reading
Organikos 