On the Back Porch of America

...h false reality show drama and treated subjects with respect. Four more episodes will come out later this year. http://vimeo.com/91655829 Small Medium Large also did a piece on Root Simple pal Doug Tiano. Doug’s been making a whole army of soft sculpture copies of himself. Watch if you dare as Doug reveals his own underbelly shadow! Small Medium Large has a bunch of other great videos on their website. Who needs Netflix?...

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From the Archives: Loquat Leather

...My philosophy is simply that if one is going to go through the trouble of making fruit leather, preserves, pies etc., one should use outstanding fruit. The flavor tells in the end. After all, the starving times are not upon us. Even Erik can’t get super excited about this fruit leather–as I recall it tasted mostly of lemon and booze. Then again, some people may have outstanding loquats–it sounds so from the comments on the last post. The ones we...

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Kintsugi: Creating Art out of Loss

...od as new, as if it had never broken, but acknowledging that breakage, and making something new and beautiful out of disaster, via the practice of mindfulness. Perhaps we can learn something from this. Please do check out the video–it’s short and beautiful. In it, a young craftsman explains the rising popularity of this 400 year-old art form in Japan, says, ” …people are realizing that chasing after money and new stuff and new technology will not...

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C-Realm Podcast on the Age of Limits

...and I neglected to mention during the interview is that we think there should be a conference here in Los Angeles that would gather together all the amazing people in our region who are making a difference in this world. We’re thinking hands on workshops, talks etc. Let us know if you have any ideas about how to make this happen....

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Masters of Carpentry at Japan House

...k of respect for the craft of carpentry. As I’ve learned from my furniture making hobby, carpentry requires a combination of physical stamina, a sense of design and a hand/eye finesse similar to playing a musical instrument. Nishiyama noted that we consider the trades as lesser than going to college and this attitude needs to change. In particular, the complex joinery involved in Japanese temple architecture demonstrates a high level of skill and...

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