display

Sayonara Series…Styling Rules and Japanese Accessories

This is one of those posts in which I could have based entirely on photographs of local collections but unfortunately, everyone’s movers worked way faster than expected and most of my anticipated photos got packed up! But everything in this post, while geared towards styling Japanese vintage and antique accessories holds true for just about anything from anywhere. But don’t expect this post to be exhaustive in topic or example. Obviously I could write ten posts about groupings of blue and white porcelain (just look at this month’s House Beautiful) or Japanese glass fishing floats (and I have in the past here, here, here and here for example) as well as some of the more unusual decorative objects we find regularly in Japan (kashigata, katagami, hagoita, come to mind). The focus of this post is really not what you are displaying, but how. I have a few simple “rules” to go by, nothing particularly original, but if you use these, your displays will be better.

One of my most basic rules is the rule of multiples. You can display a single item of a kind, like this Japanese basket perched above the drinks cabinet…

…but beyond that, with the exception of matched pairs, you need a group a similar objects placed together, like these amazing ikebana (flower arranging) baskets on the side board of an apartment designed by Emily Henderson for Michael Reisz on an episode of HGTV’s Secrets of a Stylist. Like objects should always be grouped tightly together, not placed around a space separate and unlinked from each other. I call this the “anti-pimple” rule of display.

Also demonstrated by these baskets is the rule of odd numbers, with the exception of matched pairs again (more on that later). If at a glance you can instantly count the number of objects in a grouping an odd number will always look better. I am sure there is some organic mathematical or mystical reason for this, depending on your personal perspective, but in this case just take my word for it.

The next rule is is that of varied elevation. If the baskets were just lined up on the sideboard, they would look nowhere near as good as they do with some placed higher on wooden boxes. Even their own variety of height would not achieve the same effect.

The rule of containment is to use a single decorative object such as a tray or bowl to corral another collection. We find these roughly hewn soba bowls at shrine sales all over Japan and they are great for holding collections of glass fishing floats…

…floats plus shells and souvenir rocks (love this idea!)…

…or how about hard to store baseball paraphernalia?

Another rule demonstrated by these bowl displays is to use no more than 3 types of objects and ideally either 1 or 3 (odd numbers again). The grouping of all floats is cohesive, the combo of floats, shells and rocks is cohesive, and the mitts and balls work even though there are only two types of items because one of the mitts is very dark in color and reads as a third type of item. If you put too many kinds of items in the bowl, then it will just look like a bunch of junk.

Here Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home uses her bowl to hold magazines. Isn’t it amazing how attractive even the most mundane items can be when displayed correctly?

Another favorite local collectible I have not yet written about is kokeshi dolls, the simple armless painted wooden dolls which originated in northern Japan, but are now made and sold all over the country. Vintage examples from the last 100 years or so of different varieties are a shrine sale staple. They are charming, and easy to collect.

While cute, it is important to give enough gravitas to their display to keep them from looking insignificant. This grouping is crowded by the other unrelated objects on display…

…in comparison to this grouping, where the dolls have space to breathe and coordinate with the other objects nearby. This collector has also chosen to use the rule of strict palette/shape/style to limit which colors and types she buys to create cohesion through the simple black and red paint, while using a variety of heights to create dynamism in the vignette.

This shelf effectively boxes the collection much in the way the soba bowls did above. The enclosure helps to unify the variety of dolls collected.

And here the kokeshi have been literally “boxed” to create cohesion from their variety. Note this display follows the rule of odd numbers and the rule of varied elevation in a vertical format. I do love these cute washi (Japanese paper) lined boxes – they remind me of this and this. And if you are interested in making these there is a DIY tutorial on Poppy Talk too!

Here we have a beautiful grouping of antique iron teapots, but the collection is not yet complete. Imagine this grouping if you either added one or took one away. Imagine if all the teapots sat at the same height instead of having one raised. The plan for the fifth teapot to complete this vignette is for it to be a larger fairly horizontally volumed one. Perhaps another small kettle stand with shorter legs than the one pictured will also be added.

Summer calls, but I owe you some follow up posts on rule-breaking display, because if there are rules, they must be broken, as well one on matched pairs, which have their own display rules. Watch for upcoming related posts on a basket wall installation I did in Tokyo right before leaving for the summer and in contrast, some tiny decorative items that ingenious friends are putting to good use.

Image credits: 1. Cottage Living via Bryn Alexandra, 2-3. via Emily Henderson, photo credit: Mark Champion, 4, 9 & 12. me, 5-6. M. Small, 7. via Pure Style Home, 8. Wendy Withers via Apartment Therapy, photo credit: Bethany Nauert, 10. via Decor Allure, 11. Janis Nicoay via Poppy Talk.

Jun 24, 2012 By tokyojinja in Interior Design, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets Tags: accessories, baskets, display, fishing floats, ikebana, Japanese glass floats, kokeshi, vignettes

En Masse…Iron Teapots, Vincente Wolf and the Art of Grouped Displays

Jet lag always knocks me for a loop. Not so much physically – as a mom I have gotten used to sleep deprivation – but emotionally. The point of transition from my one life to my other is always a bit rocky. And invariably I forget each time that the previous change caused me any anxiety, imagining it to have been seamless. As I creakily fold myself back into my Tokyo routine, my husband reminds me of how discomfited I was upon arrival in New Jersey at the beginning of the summer. I find it hard to believe, but know it to be true and can even read the proof here. And so I know this state of “in between” shall also pass. My blog seems to share this schizophrenic life with me as I tend to write about that which is around me. Luckily, the wonderful Kawagoe shrine sale, held on the grounds of the Narita-san Betsu-in temple on the 28th of each month, welcomed me back with open arms. Filled to the brim with goodies like always, I was particularly struck by the proliferation of antique and vintage iron teapots.

Kawagoe is well known for its great metalwork antiques, although the best dealer of them has been supplanted by new bathrooms, arguably a reasonable trade-off although I wish they had relocated him elsewhere in the market. If anyone has seen him (the guy that was always in the front corner), please let me know!

The iron braziers and kettle stands are lovely in their own right.

You can always count on finding teapots at Kawagoe – this photo was taken last October and I could easily add more from other previous visits. Not sure who the red superhero guys are….

Whenever I see vintage Japanese teapots I think immediately of designer Vincente Wolf, one of the great masters of display, especially of weaving in Asian artifacts to his interiors. His love of travel permeates his work as does his photographer’s eye. In addition to 30+ years as a designer, he also has a showroom with an eponymous furniture line, antiques and decorative objects from around the world and a blog. He was the designer who showed me early on that a mass grouping of similar objects will always trump a scattered display. His are so successful because they activate his otherwise pure and spare rooms, creating unexpected focal points. The vignette below, from an apartment he designed featured in a 1995 Metropolitan Home, was a keeper in my inspiration files. As I left to live in Hong Kong less that two years later, it was highly influential to my own collecting habits.

In more recent designs, Wolf tends to mount individual objects on simple metal stands to great effect. For sale at the VW Home showroom, Wolf has ingeniously hung similar Chinese water vessels on stands.

Kawagoe yielded more items than just teapots that reminded me of Wolf’s designs. Also having great visual impact possibilities were these spool thread gears. Lying in the box they don’t look all that impressive, but mounted on stands or hung on a wall they would be stunning.

Wolf uses a pair of large gears hung on the wall in this room…

…and often uses other kinds of antique discs to make truly effective tableaux.

Another great accent are these roof tile caps found regularly at Kawagoe…

…and elsewhere.

They would look great displayed in a similar fashion to these finials.

Throughout his designs he uses all kinds of objects grouped together, from Buddhist stupas like these on the table…

…to Victorian door knockers shaped like hands elegantly arranged on a tray.

And while I have never seen Vincente Wolf use them in a display (although they certainly do look great en masse), there were also many small Japanese fishing floats for sale at Kawagoe this past weekend. Which of course brings me to my next order of business…

As for my previous identify this post, there were 4 correct answers! The item pictured is a kenzan used in the Japanese art of flower arranging called ikebana. In English we would call it a frog! Since I don’t know how to use that blogger give-away random selector, you will have to trust me as I do it the old-fashioned way and put the four names in a hat and choose one. (Rustling noise of paper) And the winner of a pair of small glass fishing floats is Julie Fukuda! Thanks everyone for your great guesses!

Having just taken a break from this post to skype with my best friend back in the States, I am reminded, by contrast, of how easy we modern-day expatriates actually have it. Instantaneous email, cheap telephone rates – through our computers we can shrink the world to the size of a pea. I think about the adventurers who left their homes through the centuries, not knowing if they would ever return or see family and friends again. For all of my whining above, I know that will never be an issue and that through my writing I am getting to share moments in my life and inspirations with those I love even when they may be far away.

Image credits: 1-4, 7, 10-11, 15-18. me, 5. Metropolitan Home November/December 1995, photo credit: Simon Watson, 6. via VW Home, 8-9, 12-13. via Vincente Wolf’s blog, 14. Metropolitan Home December 2007, photo credit: Vincente Wolf.

Sep 1, 2011 By tokyojinja in Expat Life, Glass, Interior Design, Metals, Shrine Sales and Flea Markets Tags: antique teapots, display, flea market, Japanese glass floats, Kawagoe, shrine sale, Vincente Wolf