Each Little World

The Journal of Japanese Gardening

When we moved to this house more than 17 years ago, we turned mainly to books for ideas and information about designing the garden we envisioned. We quickly came to the realization that most garden magazines focused on traditional European style ornamental gardens, with a nod to American prairies and vegetable gardens. But we were interested in Asian, especially Japanese, gardens. Until we discovered The Journal of Japanese Gardening — now known as  Sukiya Living — we just assumed there was no publication directed entirely at folks who want a garden based on a different cultural model than the typical British or American landscape. 

We've been getting Sukiya Living since late 2005 (Issue No. 47), and we find it fascinating and frustrating in equal measure. Because it is the creation of a small staff with a highly opinionated publisher, the magazine can be didactic, dismissive or delightful from issue to issue and page to page. We're never sure what to expect when it arrives in the mail. It comes out 6 times a year and costs $35.00 in the U.S. We subscribe since it is not a publication you'll find on the newsstand.

 Sukiya Living publisher Douglas M. Roth has very specific ideas about the magazine and the subject of Japanese gardens. He's not one to mince words if readers' attitudes or preferences don't fit his definition of Sukiya Living. One time the magazine published a long letter (Issue No. 72) from a reader critical of a story and the attitudes it expressed. The letter writer wrote, "I really don't like your attitude of intolerance and your snotty lambasting of those that don't meet your ridiculous and self codified standards of authenticity." The Editor's comment was "It's nice to hear that you enjoy your garden so much."

While that letter writer was an unknown garden designer from Louisianna, I had previously noted an even more critical letter from Douglas Dawson of Chicago (Issue No. 54). Dawson owns a prestigious art gallery specializing in "ancient and historic art from Africa, Asia and the Americas." So he knows what he is talking about when he criticizes Sukiya LIving, saying that like Mark and I, he is "often both humored and entertained by the vituperative opinions expressed . . ." But he went on to censor the writer of the particular article for "her narrow and borderline racist attitude" directed at all of us gaijin gardeners.

The attitudes and writing style by the staff of the magazine seem to be less strident in tone these days. But I would like to have a better sense that they recognize that the mere fact that we're trying to learn about this subject — and paying for this education with a subscription to the magazine — is a praiseworthy endeavor in and of itself. Not everyone has access to the same materials, skilled craftsmen and budget to create the kind of garden we might admire and aspire to.

Despite my criticism and that of other readers, I must admit that Sukiya Living is filled with informative articles, tips and directions for everything from pruning to concrete work, book reviews and assorted commercial and public resources. If Japanese gardens are your passion, definitely subscribe to Sukiya Living. Just remember to keep some grains of salt at the ready while you're reading.

Understanding Garden Design

Over the years I have read so many garden books that I am always surprised when I discover something new. In this case it's something I've thought about but rarely seen discussed: why design a garden at all? Vanessa Gardner Nagel doesn't pull any punches in "Understanding Garden Design," another great new title avialable from Timber Press. Nagel worked as a commercial interior designer before she switched gears and moved outdoors. How to talk to clients and break down a project from initial questions through concepts to finished projects is her forte. While this book is inteded as "The Complete Handbook for Aspiring Designers" it is useful for those of us trying to design our gardens on our own.

Among the very useful topics Nagel (pictured below) details are the critical practicalities that must be attended to if your garden is to succeed: how to measure your slope, how to calculate how many gallons of water come off your roof for harvesting, how high and deep outdoor steps should be to name a few.

She also suggests that one make a "scope statement" which describes and ennumerates all the things you want your garden to be and do. This is a generalized list of items like creating a space for evening activities or allowing room for pets. Nagel creates a "scope statement" for a hypothetical property and then uses that imaginary home as an on-going example as she goes through the design process step-by-step. 

Nagel also includes a section on plants, considering them from a structural perspective and cataloging them as "thrillers, spillers and fillers." You get the picture. Once you've created your plan, she gives advice on working with contractors, including how to find and screen candidates.

And lastly she deals with post-construction issues: adding furniture and art and dealing with guests. This may be the first garden design book I've ever read that squarely offers "crowd control techniques" and strategies for having a successful garden party and open garden events. Nagel brilliantly ends with a list of protocals she calls "garden etiquette for the unintitiated." The question is, would it be rude to hand out this list to the next group that visits the garden?

. . . 

Vanessa Gardner Nagel's "Understanding Garden Design" is available through the Wisconsin South Central Library System.

Same tiny tree, new concept

For the last few years my sister-in-law and I have both been buying these small table-top live trees. One year I decorated my tree with ornaments made in India that were covered with bits of silver, glass and beads. The colors were mainly blues, greens and silver. The next year I added flocks of different birds made of glass, glitter and feathers. 

Meanwhile my sister-in-law's tree was dripping with glass icicles; a vision of cool elegance — just like her. I have a collection of icicles that were always the last ornaments that went on the full-size trees I used to do for the holidays. This year I borrowed her idea and got out all my icilcles, a few beaded snowflakes and some miniature mirrors to create a tree that sparkles without screaming.

One of the benefits of a small tree like this is that you can decorate it quickly and easily. And you can mix and match your ornaments each year instead of having to drag them all out of strorage each December and find room for every one on the tree. This way, I get to constantly re-discover forgotten ornaments, notice collecting themes and get to enjoy a bit of nostalgia while I create an entirely new tree. 

Textiles: The Whole Story at Monroe St. Library

Professor Beverly Gordon of the Design Studies Dept. at UW-Madison will read from her new book, "Textiles The Whole Story: Uses, Meanings, Significance" at the Monroe St. Branch Library in Madison on Monday, Dec 12 at 7 p.m. The evening will include a slide show and Gordon will have some copies of her book for sale. The event is free and open to all.

Not long ago I went to a similar event celebrating the publication of "Textiles The Whole Story" and the many people who assisted Gordon along the way. Judging from the presentation that day, this should be an equally entertaining and informative evening. The book is beautiful, filled with visual riches that the cover doesn't begin to suggest. It's a must for anyone who loves textiles. The illustrations include almost 60 objects from the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection, part of the School of Human Ecology at UW-Madison.

Here's what the book's publisher, Thames and Hudson, says about it: 

"There are few aspects of our lives — physical, emotional, spiritual — in which thread and fabrics do not play a notable part. Beverly Gordon reminds us memorably and movingly of the powerful significance of fabric throughout human history.

The author bridges past and present from the Stone Age, when humans first learned to make cordage or thread, to twenty-first-century “smart fabrics,” which can regulate body temperature or measure the wearer’s pulse. Her discussion integrates art, science, history, and anthropology, and she draws on examples from around the globe.

A dazzling array of illustrations includes paintings and photographs of both historic and contemporary textiles and a broad collection of textiles being created, worn, and lived with."

A bejeweled tree

When I was right out of grad school, my roommate and I had a great old apartment that allowed us to play out our decorating fantasies; albeit on a very limited budget. That means that at Christmas we could afford a big tree but not the ornaments. So we made paper chains, strung popcorn and improvised. One of the things we did was to put all our jewelry on the tree to add a bit of sparkle.

This year I decided to resurrect that idea and hung assorted earrings on the tiny tree that I ususally decorate with miniature ornaments. I have to say that it turned out to be easier said than done. Since I was using earrings that I actually wear, I had to be careful not to damage them by bending the posts or the loops that go through my ears. I resorted to hanging a few using ornament wires — until I remembered the stash of 1950's clip-on earrings I have that belonged to my mother. They proved to be easy to attach to the branches and added the touch of glam that my little tree needed to shine!

The Secret Garden, again

The New York Times recently published a story pointing out that most parents prefer real, tactile, paper books for their children even if they themselves prefer to read e-books. That group included even those parents who work in digital industries.

As an adult who has long loved children's books I completely understand their reasoning. Something important is lost when the size, shape, thickness of a book and the quality of the paper it's printed on are replaced by a digital device. For me the loss is a connection to physical, material culture and the way an artist or writer wants his or her work presented.

My attitude manifests itself in the fact that I own four copies of my favorite children's book: "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Unlike e-books, they represent four different concepts about how this story might be pictured:

• An original 1911 hardcover version with four full color illustrations interspersed thoughout.
• A 2005 paperback from the Barnes & Noble Classics series with pictures by the famed 19th century illustrator, Charles Robinson, and excellent notes and intro by Jill Muller.
• The 2008 version released by the Candlewick Press of Cambridge, MA, with drawings by Inga Moore. I consider it the definitive illustrated version.
• And last month I bought the one just released by Penguin in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the original publication of "The Secret Garden" in 1911.

The covers fully extended including the french flaps.

The text of this latest purchase is the original 1911 version and the book has no internal illustrations — just a brilliant cover that is the entire selling point of the book and my reason for buying it. The book was commissioned by Penguin art director Paul Buckley, and is one of three titles with special covers created to debut what's called the Penguin "Threads" series.

The books feature stunning embroidered covers designed and created by artist Jillian Tamaki. You can see pictures of the other books — Emma and Black Beauty — on her sketch blog along with pictures of the work in progress (directly below).

The images, accoring to Penguin, were "sketched out in a traditional illustrative manner, then hand stitched using needle and thread, the final covers are sculpt embossed for a tactile, textured" effect. So, no, you don't get an actual embroidered book; more a facsimile you might say — though that doesn't do justice to how clever and creative the book is in concept and execution.

Indeed every stitch is as visible as if one were holding the original textile. What is particularly delightful is that the design wraps around the entire cover including the large front and back "deluxe french flaps." Not only that but the end papers show the backside of the embroidery. The thick paper of the pages has deckle edges — something not often seen in newly published books these days. All in all, it's a visual and tactile treat for $16.00. I found my copy at Anthropologie in Madison but it appears to be available at general bookstores and online.

The front and back sides of the same stitched images.

If you are a fan of "The Secret Garden," I've written more about Frances Hodgson Burnett's background and inspiration for the book as well as the various film versions of the story.

Inspiration: Steve Jobs

Scotty, we're coming for you!

Don't know about you, but the front of our fridge is usually covered with bills, family photos, postcards and all the bits and pieces that we need to keep track of at the moment. But somewhere over the last six months, it has morphed into a home for political messages: posters, postcards, volunteer info and anything that will help us stay focused on the current tasks and events. This week our attention was on the recall efforts agains two Democratic incumbents who handily held onto their seats in yesterday's elections.

For those of you who may have forgotten or never knew, it's worth noting at this point that these recalls were initiated by Republicans as a way to punish the Democratic Senators who left the state to postpone a vote on the Governor's budget bill. The GOP was only able to get three of the eight members they targeted on the ballot. So citizens went to work and initiated recalls against six GOP Senators and forced elections in all six instances. We are Wisconsin offers a good look at what happened, the what the numbers mean and what's next.

As for me, I know what I'll be doing next. There's the upcoming Democracy Convention beginning next Wed, Aug. 24, followed by Fighting Bob Fest on Sept. 17. And then — Scotty, we're coming for you!

 

China syndrome

My favorite of the five China-themed exhibits at the Milwaukee Art Museum was "Way of the Dragon: The Chinoiserie Style, 1750-1830," which runs through Nov. 6 in the Decorative Arts Gallery. MAM defines Chinoiserie as "a style of ornamentation that developed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries out of a growing interest in the exotic, admiration for the beauty of Asian art, and a curiosity about Chinese people and places." MAM partnered with the Chipstone Foundation in this display of more than fifty decorative objects from their collections as well as local private lenders.

This exhibit is a dream for anyone who is in love with blue and white china, teapots, punch bowls, and fanciful natural imagery. It's also a chance to see rare books by Mark Catesby and Linnaeus. Catesby was an English naturalist whose work was the first published account of the flora and fauna of North American, while Linnaeus was the father of botanical nomenclature. This particular MAM exhibit got all my China — as in dishes — genes pumped up and put me in the mood for shopping. And then my sister-in-law mentioned what she'd recently seen at Atomic Interiors. 

I dashed right over and discovered the Madison shop had three dinner plates created by the award-winning designer Niels Refsgaard for Dansk, and manufactured in the 1970s in Japan. I was ecstatic as I used to have service for four in this design. It was called "BLT" and not for that favorite American sandwich; in this instance the initials stood for "breakfast, lunch and tea." The three-piece set of plate, bowl and squat mug came beautifully packaged in the Japanese style, as this old Dansk magazine ad shows.

I'd been dreaming of replacing what had been broken over the years but most on-line sources were selling the plates for $65+, which put them outside the realm of possible purchase. But I snapped them up instantly when I saw Atomic had them priced at $35.00 per plate. Not exactly cheap but very reasonable given what I've seen elsewhere. So now I have four plates again (!), which means I'm only lacking one mug and two bowls to have my service for four.

Mark was very sweet when I brought them home as they are not really his favorite dishes. But I bought them when I was just out of college and in my first apartment, so they have huge sentimental value for me. And besides, he just got a new Trek bicycle in anticipation of his 65th birthday next month, so he really couldn't complain too much. 

FYI: If you love mid-century modern and Herman Miller, Atomic Interiors is the place for you. In its various locations over the years, they've always had an eclectic collection of items ranging from dishes to jewelry to lamps and fabulous furniture — all with reasonable prices and Midwestern friendliness.

Pleasant Living from the new guys in town

It all began — as do so many interesting and fun things in Madison — with Leslie Watkins. I first met Leslie (below) when she owned Paperteria, that fab emporium on Henry St. when that short block was also home to Material World. If this makes sense to you, it's likely you know Leslie, too. She's had a dizzying array of career stops, each one more interesting than the last; her specialty is burnishing the image of local entrepreneurs. So when Leslie says there's something new you should see, someone you should meet ... you go. 

And that's how we discovered Rick Shaver and Lee Melahn of Pleasant Living. (Don't let the name confuse you with that other Pleasant person).  Shaver and Melahn are a creative pair who moved their design business from NYC to the Midwest. Their shop cum office at 1227 East Wilson Street should find a nice niche in Madison. (And yes, Leslie was a college chum of Lee's which is where this story really begins). 

We showed up at Pleasant Living's recent Grand Opening per Leslie's suggestion. I was immediately smitten with the transformation of the front yard from grass to gravel. It gives this little bungalow a magical touch, very French in a Woody Allen kind of way. These New Yorkers have already figured out the way to my heart and I hadn't even made it in the front door! What's nicest about this creative project is that Lee and Rick blog about it and even show what it all cost.  

The web site for the interior design and furniture design halves of their business is lovely. This is a competitive, tough industry and you need to be able to say who you are and what you do in a way that is distinctive and yet clear to follow and understand. They've got it down; from the moment I arrived at the site, I was so taken with their style that I had to look at absolutely everything.

Having had that online sneak preview of their taste and skill made it even more fun to see things in person at the Grand Opening celebration. The front half of their little building is a retail space while the I.D office is in the rear. The furniture is all from their own design line. (That's Lee talking to me on the front porch just visible through the square window. And yes, that is the famous Madison Capitol-approved low-stick blue tape they're using while they finnish painting the building's trim). 

Rick gave his take on quick fixes using color in the recent issue of House Beautiful. There were copies to browse through and a flatscreen TV featured an array of their design projects. 

As someone with an aversion to giant sized, super-squishy furniture I loved the scale, the look and especially the firm feel of the upholstered furniture they offer. And aren't those little side tables adorable. The trays and vases on the table in the foreground are actually porcelain by Dan Levy.

The bungalow had been the former gallery/workspace of a photographer who had stripped it down to its essentials. Though the exterior is brick, the building is actually constructed of hand-made cement blocks. Quirky, earthy and contemporary all at the same time. And a great backdrop for the floral photos by Susan Johann (represented by Pleasant Living).

Now that Pleasant Living is officially open and the hoopla has died down, you should stop by and introduce yourself. Tell them Leslie and Linda sent you!

If you can't make it to the shop in person — or even if you can — be sure to check out their blog. It is filled with intelligent design commentary, history and information, along with a soupcon of other topics including a weekly photo highlighted under the heading "The Gallery." The recent post of purple houses in Madison is a must-read.

PHOTOS: Leslie's picture is from FB, and that's Rick Shaver talking with an unidentified guest at the open house in the last image.