Notes To A Friend by Yuri Chung

Notes To A Friend / hourglass by Angie Park from Baum-Kuchen on Vimeo.

Few days before my birthday in mid-December, our friend Angie invited me and Sara of Great Plain to join her at the silent auction she was contributing. The video is a mini Instagram snippet from the night I captured.

"Notes To A Friend" by Yuri Chung was one of the most moving texts I have read in a while... Below is a description of the project from their website and why this came together.

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Notes To A Friend began as a personal project by our friend and Untitled Mondays member Yuri Chung on Instagram.

A few months shy of her 4th year in remission from breast cancer, Yuri found out that her cancer had returned in the form of Stage 4 breast cancer.

Her response was "Notes To A Friend"

“This is a personal project I am starting today. Less than a month before I found out about my diagnosis, I had sent "notes" to a friend about my experience with breast cancer four years ago. Ironically, we were collaborating on a special project: mostly about being a survivor & moving forward. I still think these thoughts are valid, important, and worth sharing. I sent these to my friend in a simple word document, in no particular order or form. The designer in me went ahead and made this to share with you. I'll post a new "note" for the next 10 days.”

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I hope you have a chance to read through her notes on their website when you are ready. At the gallery where the silent auction was hosted I pulled myself together to read all Yuri's notes until I got to her parents' letters to her. Her parents' letters... I had to read them by myself at home... taking few days to get through the entire letters because it really made my whole heart opened.

Sometimes we encounter these moments in life when you are nudged to rethink the meaning of life itself. Why do we do what we do... everyday?

I was grateful that I had an opportunity to be there with Angie and Sara the night.

Gift embrace our hopes and dreams...

Every year Frido and I spend quite bit of time discussing and figuring out what to share with Satchi and Coco as Christmas gifts. We don't buy a lot for rest of the year except their birthday in June and Christams so it's exciting for us to think of something special...

On December 6th... for Saint Nicolaus day, they got a pair of vintage aviator caps and vintage binocular from Japan. I have to say... Frido is amazing in treasure hunting and discovering something unique on eBay. They have been playing a lot of "traveling" pretend game where they are on the boat or airplane made of upside down couch and pillows... heading to Yakushima or Singapore (where Frido traveled pretty frequently in last few years). So we thought these props might ignite their imagination little bit more.

As we unfolds holiday spirit which invites few occasions of gift exchanges, I love reminding myself that gift embraces our hopes and dreams for someone special. It's not just "things" that we are giving but it's the meaning behind it and how we see the person playing with it, using it, wearing it, experiencing it...

To me remembering the concept completes the feeling of holidays in a holistic way.

I hope you are doing well with holidays in and ahead... And I like to also remind ourselves... that less of everything and anything is always more:)

xoxo
-wakako

Cheers to another year to keep growing!

This past Tuesday was my birthday. I must say... that it was one of the "least" emotionally loaded birthday I had in a while. I could have forgotten that it was my birthday if it were not for my kind friends and families who reminded me that it was actually "indeed" my birthday.

There has been a lot of learning about myself in last few months as a parent and as a person. And birthday felt like it was a sign of growing up instead of getting older (which was how it felt in last few years). The day was extremely low key. Frido and the girls baked a special birthday cake for me the day before... and we got to eat the cake for breakfast:)  I went to the studio and worked through the day just like any other day and I loved that. It is my favorite place to be... and being able to do what I love to do everyday including my birthday is such a gift. Frido and I went out to dinner for Sushi and it was lovely. 

Thank you everyone for sweet messages and gifts full of thoughtful analogue artifacts. You know me so well:) 

Cheers to another year to keep growing!

xo

-wakako

 

Baum-kuchen at Remodelista Holiday Market / 2015

Few weeks ago, we headed out to the west side of Los Angeles and participated Remodelista holiday market. Every time we do pop-up (about once a year now...), it reminds me of our days at Rose Bowl Flea Market. Loading our tiny hatch back to the max with a tent, tables, and our items at 5am. Getting to know customers in person for the first time. Learning what display and items worked better and the design challenges that came with it. All of that. Things we did when our business was still an infant.

I am so thankful that this year... at Remodelistas Holiday Market, I had great support from Nerine and Eunice. Our table and display felt like "us". Friends visited and said hi! Customers we met in previous years at the same market stopped by to get more TN refills. All of that. All of what comes from layers of time and building something from scratch.

I know many of us are bit overwhelmed by holiday pop-ups and markets... because there is so much to take in. But I am thankful that we were a part of this particular market. Inspiring space in the Big Daddy's Antiques, local artisans surrounding us and lovely customers who spent nearly hour at our table looking and interacting artifacts we love so much.

So thank you!

Update on Analogue System for 2016

I am excited to share my (close to) final thoughts on how I will be arranging my analogue system for 2016. (you can check out my last iteration of the system here.)  I am passionate (aka. obsessed) about this topic because the process of thinking about it always feels very reflective of the current life state. Just like how people contemplate about the interior space and home they aspire living in... I imagine and dream about my analogue system.

I am excited that few components of the system will stay as is from 2015 and few other details will shift to a new ways of doing and thinking.

One big change I wanted to make... was to simplify... to carry and use less. I want to have less analogue places where I will have to juggle between... which probably has a direct relationship to how I feel about physical places and connections we are making everyday.

To do so..., I decided to remove my Traveler's Notebook weekly insert (TN/18) since I don't use the weekly page until I actually get to the week. (all my future planning happens on TN Monthly calendar!) I will be using some pages from my bullet journal (TN blank or grid notebook) for a custom made weekly pages. Also all the notes, ideas and to-do list for Baum-kuchen will go into this bullet journal style notebook so I have a single documentation of Baum-kuchen.

Few things I have been carrying around with my Traveler's Notebook include LAMY fountain pens in different points, Lettermate template for creating title of the journal page, FriXion erasable pen for appointments that might change. I just clip my LAMY pens on TN leather cover. Their clips seem to work really well with the thickness of TN leather. I am hoping to tab my Bullet Journal refill with TN monthly tabs (comes in this custom sticker set!) so I can archive my refills in TN archive binder and stay organized when I complete the notebook.

For journaling portion of my analogue system... I decided to use MD 2016 Monthly/Weekly notebook to document my family's everyday. Through 2015 I have been using MD Diary and have loved it so much. The notebook is filled to the max with my writings, kids' drawings, memorandum from family activities I have collected. But this year... I want to challenge myself to put little more focus on documentation so my notebook weighs less but just as meaningful. It will also allow me to carry Hobonichi Cousin Avec (A5 size) and MD 2016 Monthly/Weekly notebook in one Roterfaden leather cover.

To lighten my weight, I contemplated to only use one journal to document family memory as well as my personal thoughts... but I came to the conclusion that it's incredibly important that I have my own space to let ink flow... just for myself.

So I think this is what I am going to start my new year with!
I hope your planning for new year's analogue system is going well.

...and let's remember... that journey is the destination:)

xoxo
-wakako

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List of artifacts in my analogue system:

Traveler's Notebook:

• TN in brown (mine is limited edition from Traveler's Factory but we always carry the TN original brown leather cover in stock!)
• 1.61 Essential leather insert
• Kraft Folder (TN/20)
• TN Monthly planner for 2016
• Blank notebook (similar to TN/03)
• Pan am Plastic Sheet (which gives me an awesome writing surface!)
• LAMY fountain pens
• FriXion erasable pen
• Brass Ballpoint Pen
• Lettermate 

Roterfaden:

• Roterfaden dark brown leather cover (A5)
• MD 2016 Monthly/Weekly notebook  (A5)
• Hobonichi Cousin Avec (A5)

LOVE for Analogue / Create festive details!

I hope you are embracing the holiday spirit! I will be wrapping special gifts for Satchi and Coco this week and was wondering what would be creative ways to add a personal touch to the gifts... so we asked Eunice if she could share some thoughts on how to craft festive and personal gift tags. I loved that she started it with simple tags that can be found at any office supply stores... and added layers of accents using masking tapes and few of our favorite analogue goodies.

How awesome would it be to have personal tags like this on your gift this year?? I know for sure that our girls will feel extra excited to see these happy tags (and their wrapped gifts) for next 10 days... under our Christmas tree.

List of artifacts used in this project:

• washi tape 
• Hole seal
• wax seal
• paper twine

1. Layer washi tapes to create custom stickers

Did you know that you can layer washi tapes on a parchment sheet to cut out any shape possible? Eunice showed us how she made Christmas stocking and tree by mixing and matching washi tapes that were available at the studio. When you cut out the shape and peel the tapes off, there is always the wow factor. I showed the technique to the girls at home this weekend and they LOVED it! 

2. Gift tag pocket

Gift tags can work twice as hard. It's a gift tag pocket! Simply cut out a piece of paper with a shape that compliments your gift tag to make a pocket (on this example, a little diagonal pocket). Then layer washi tapes on the pocket to create a beautiful accent on the tags. Insert your little note and you are done:) For extra festiveness, we added wax seal and Classiky hole sticker in blue tone! 

3. Gold accent

We are adoring mt masking tape in gold leaf and gold particle so much! A hint of screen printed gold details add so much brightness to any surface we use the tapes for. Eunice combined the tape with gold ink calligraphy type. You can use gold gel pen for the similar effect!