Pre-flight bag synched and scrunched in small mode + Snatch.

Hi.

We just returned from a trip to Japan where we go each winter to spent time with CW's parents. This year we were joined by his sister, her husband and their 2 and 4 year old. And also CW's older brother. The night before our flight, CW embarked on his pre-travel ritual of bag making. My pre-flight ritual is to become stressed and cranky.

This year, the bag was the coolest it's ever been. The idea was Pau's actually, prompted by CW ... I want a bag that can change sizes. Pau had the idea to make a bunch of holes in the bag and use paracord to synch it. In the top picture is how it looks when synched and scrunched. In big mode it was used to fit a poop ton of groceries, jackets, a record...etc.

Over time, our Japan trips have developed a cadence that feels familiar, but not like home. Visits to museums, and neighborhoods. The rhythm of trains. Lots of walking. Stock-ups on the only pants Tree wears and cotton long-underwear for me. Usually we have a mission to find some weird thing, one year that was fishing weights. This year we searched for a record for our friend Peter, that has certain tracks only available in the Japan release. I love going to listen to classical music and sip on a lemon squashed in sugary bubble water.

A new discovery this year by our kids was HARD-OFF, the unfortunately named sibling of BOOK-OFF where they sell defunct electronics and musical instruments. Tree bought a pocket dictionary and Pau a portable analog TV that no longer picks up signals (because there are none to pick up). But watching the green scan line sweep the screen, across the broken pixels that flare red is like our own private Nam June Paik.

Hanging with the little cousins reminded me of our days with littler kids and the specific flavor of relentless care asked of them. I read a 700 page book over the course of our trip, Kiran Desai's The Loneliness of Sonia + Sunny, which would not have been possible two years ago. I'd pick it up on train rides, waiting for the kids to be finished at a crowded shop I didn't want to be in, or in moments relaxing at home. Zoning out, inhabiting my thoughts in some other constructed world. Its a privilege and freedom to get this space, to do what I want with my brain.

Today I want to write about the book. I'm still thinking about Auntie Mina Foi washing her undies each morning and hanging them to dry. About how above all other things, that peripheral detail somehow centers the entire work. How it took the author 20 years to write. And how important that feels.

I'm also still thinking about the Taiwanese film Yi Yi I watched on the flight over. I want to write about the little boy actor's face in the opening scene when he's having his photo taken with his cousins, his expression of innocence, so perfectly captured it feels impossible and miraculous.

Our boiler right now is being emptied and it sounds like someone is sitting next to me pouring water into a giant metal tub but I am alone in the room.

I want to write about abundance and editing but it didn't come together fast enough today and I need to go.

Cantilever light with Lichen.

In December Jared from Lichen dropped by and we did a photoshoot for the launch of our cantilever light in their shop. Che-Wei's been making these in small batches of 2 so we can use these in our house, but now Lichen has a few for sale in their BK shops Lichen and FF&E, both are really fun places to check out.

These photos are by @carbonstories. Below is the actual light that you can check out in person at Lichen or in their online shop.

Here is a picture of a diagram of all the different models of citrus and map of where in Japan they are all grown. I've always been curious about all the different citrus varieties. Grapefruit is my favorite food. We saw this in Yugawara with our Yuval who wrote Towards a Nude Architecture.

That is a pane of glass from an old Mitutoya factory. It is scratched because employees used to test the hardness of bits they made by scratching glass. This practice was encouraged, so apparently many of the windows looked like this.

A replica of a measuring tool from Ancient Egypt based on the cubit. From Mitutoya museum.

iPhone chain case.

We did a pop-up at Isetan, the oldest department store in Japan. Our distributor in Japan Justine did an amazing job setting this up. We spent two afternoons their and it was really fun to meet new people and get visits from people we know and to learn about all the rules we were breaking.