Last year in Korea ....

Time flies, hard to believe it has been exactly one year since I went to Korea and Japan. I will definitely go back some day, there are still soooo many places I haven't seen. Especially Hokkaido in Japan and the national parks in Korea are on  my list: you would be surprised what a beautiful nature those countries have to offer. But of course, Shibuya crossing in Tokyo and Namdaemun market in Seoul also have their urban, over-crowded and buzzing charm. Here are some of my favourite pictures from my 3-week trip in spring 2013:

Dublin

A weekend celebrating the 30th birthday of one of my oldest friends from uni, marking over 8 years of friendship. I'm glad to have such good friends even though many of them live far away but we manage to keep in touch nevertheless. And now and then we meet up, have a ball and revel about "the good old days"... and the good times to come!

(Gluten-free) birthday cake at "Queen of Tarts". Delicious!

Glasnevin cemetary

Detail of a gravestone

The back of Dublin Castle

IMMA, Irish Museum of Modern Art

Maxing out the clichés: pub session & Guiness

And that's after the Guiness

Trinity College

"Long Room" of the College library

Zeeland

 A wonderful, windy weekend in Zeeland (Netherlands).

Late summer thrifts

It's been a while but in the past couple of weeks I've been hitting my ultimate flea-market hattrick: 3 different markets on 3 weekends and some very succesful thrifting! Here are some of my finds:

 A cute egg-cup and a Russian shawl for only 1 €! So happy I found the shawl, I had been looking for one for ages.

Beautiful plates, a little tattered already but perfectly fine to use for my purposes.

  

Found both the bowl and the fabric on the fleamarket and they go so well together. Might make a tablecloth from the fabric. 

 And these, of course, I didn't buy on the market but at the Marimekko outlet store in Helsinki but they are so precious I had to include them here. I haven't really decided what to make from them but probably a more formal dress with the one on top and a casual shirt with the one at the bottom.

Marimekko

Marimekko ist probably my all-time favourite brand (although I generally don't care much about brand names) but their design is very unique and timeless. In Finland it's an institution and items are handed down from one generation to another, I suppose it's also a question of national pride in way. I especially like the organic inspired patterns but there are many other beautiful ones. Here a few examples: 

And here are some more abstract patterns I like:

These ones use images, too [and I'm trying to think what word represents the opposite of "abstract"]:

And this is probably the most famous pattern, "Unikko". I don't like it very much but it has become almost synonyme for the Marimekko-brand.

You can find more information on the official Marimekko website.

Prague

Some snippets from my long week-end in Prague. Mainly sunshine, cheap beer and good company. Makes me want to go back soon!

P.S: I apologzie for the appaling quality of the photos but I have to do with my old point-and-shoot cam since my SLR was stolen *sigh* and I can't afford a new one at the moment.

ROA - Street art

This has been one of my favourite street artists for a while and I recently found out that he is actually from the city of Gent in Belgium, where I went last weekend. And, spot on: I discovered one of his works by the canal! What I like about his art is that he often uses the environment or his "canvas" and integrates the background into the piece. He often uses doors or windows to create different perspectives or views when opening/closing them. One of my favourites is the "x-ray effect" which can be seen on some of the pictures on the website mentioned below.

If you fancy more examples of ROA's skills, check out this webpage: http://roaweb.tumblr.com/archive 
More up to date pieces from Australia, Chile and Miami can be found here (one of my favourites is the Austalian still life on Cockatoo Island): http://unurth.com/filter/ROA

Here are some examples of his works that I spotted in different places:

(1) Brussels, Rue de la Chaufferette (2) Gent, Canal (3) London, Brick Lane