Miya Shoji is a traditional Japanese carpentry workshop on 17th street in New York. Miya Shoji is built on the Japanese idea that that which is minimal and natural is the most beautiful. The company emphasises the functionality of the woodwork. If a design is good, it stays in use. If it is not good, it disappears. Design always appears with a necessity. If you need more light in your house, you cut the wall and add some window frame. If you feel cold sleeping on the ground, you make a bed and put your matrass on it. I myself have always been interested in woodwork. When we were building up our new life, we encountered new necessities along the way. This opened up the possibility of working
While the outside is getting colder and colder, the sky turning washed out grey, my mind drifts to warmer places. My new subject is desert animals. The first one, a meerkat is just finished. A dromedary, a fennec fox, a jerboa and a Cape ground squirrel will follow. They are all part of the new series Flat Animals, soon to be followed by Fat Animals. The desert is a harsh place to live. It lacks water and vegetation and the heat is unrelenting. No wonder desert animals stay so thin. But they are smart. They survive. All of them adapted to their unforgiving environment. The meerkat has dark circles around his eyes to prevent the sun from reflecting in them. The hump of the dromedary stores fa
