THE SEED FOR THE SOLUTION

I spent the better part of my life exercising a knee jerk reaction, learned all too well from family to say no. A resounding NO to all that didn’t conform to some half-baked, preconceived notion of what I clung to. But one day, when I cut too much wood off of a piece I was sculpting, it dawned on me, with advice from my father…of all places, that a great solution could be found in any seemingly, lost, messed up, mistaken condition. Thus began my long and arduous process to shake off the “no” shackles. Once I got the hang of it events quickly revealed how I could (but didn’t always – to my detriment) turn things around.

Everyday we face challenges and the choices we make either negate or enhance our direction. The trick is to somehow stand out of our own way, and embrace a more encompassing reality.

I have ever so slowly come to realize that a huge factor for success is “attitude”. Didn't someone say attitude = altitude? How's about latitude? The ability to s-t-r-e-t-c-h-. There’s an added benefit of embracing a lighter attitude; people are drawn to it. People are naturally drawn to the winners - those who can relieve themselves and possibly another of their problems by seeing the seed to the solution.

I don’t think any great salesman has ever shown that he sees a problem. He sells the solution.

FILL IN THE CRACKS

I ran into an interior design friend on the Metro commuting from New York City. Her clients are the rich and famous who happen to have one of their many homes in New York City...get the picture?

As we were talking she began to bemoan a custom made table that came out 'wrong'. It was one of those beautiful wooden, handmade tables that in their rustic nature show off the beauty of the wood grain. Nakashima was probably the first to explore the wood in this way because, in his own words, he let the wood speak to him. These pieces have since become the ‘it furniture’, fetching astronomical prices.

This designer friend was confiding in me that there was a natural split in the wood that was unforeseen – in other words they did not order this imperfection that they saw as a stain, a blight. Instead of being able to embrace this imperfection it cost the craftsman this job.

The designer returned the table to the artisan, who had to painstakingly make another table. I asked her to reconsider, seeing a “golden” opportunity by literally pouring hot, golden metallic molten into the void and filling this crevice in the furniture.

Or how about a vibrant cadmium/vermillion to highlight the crack and make it a feature to enhance the wood? She didn’t get it – or even what attracted her and her client to this beautiful furniture in the first place –its imperfection.

FROM EYESORE TO EYE CANDY

A year after this conversation I came upon a picture of this type of table I had dreamed of. Into it, the designer intentionally brought a vermillion color to these butterflies in the joints that hold the 2 planks of wood together.

Now the question begs to be asked, am I the genius I think I am? Okay, so I must admit I’m not the genius I make myself out to be. I must be following history and my exposure to it enables me to take in, absorb and appreciate thinking out of the box. 

From my subconscious I have sourced these images and concepts. Having lived, worked, studied and absorbed Japanese design and culture for years, as I ate, woke and slept it I buried this solution. That is how I justify making these connections.

One day, as I was preparing to give a tour at the Japan Society in NY, I came across this statement: “The neck of this jar is cracked in several places. The cracks have been filled in with gold lacquer. This is the traditional Japanese way of repairing good ceramics.” They have a name for this, Kin Suri which translates as Applying Gold.

THE PERFECTION OF IMPERFECTION

Historically, the Japanese could not afford to discard. Which is probably why Nakashima worked his tables as he did. Then this very IT look comes along in the US a generation or so later, instinctively understood as right. Our modern, ‘throw away’ culture embraces the gift the Japanese mind has lived with for generations and can offer us. 

If we don’t allow ourselves to discard then we reuse and in the reuse we may just find the exquisite solution that shows us beauty in the most unusual places. These pots and textiles exemplify how the gold filled cracks or stitches overlay the original design with a random beauty unique to them.

Recently when discussing the Japanese leaving the basting stitches showing on the kimono with the past head of textile conservation at the MET, she could not get past these stitches being retained even after the garment was fully sewn. I think for a Japanese person, as for myself because I lived in the culture when I was in my twenties, they would not see it as wrong or out of place. You accept this overlay is as part of the overall theme. Your eye does not stop on them but takes the piece in as a whole. The basting becomes part of this symphony.

In the United States, due in large part to our 20th century prosperity and the shortsightedness of the seller to look only to increasing revenue, we've found it so easy to discard, re-consume and dispose again. Now we have our own figurative cracks developing and growing out of this willfully wasteful way of life. What kind of kin suri will we use to fill them?

This structural quirk that couldn’t be hidden was beautifully worked into the design of the room. So as to keep the full height of the ceiling, L’Artemise Hotel in Uzes, France takes the newly crafted metal beam that was not original to the architecture but is probably a reinforced structure due to a sagging roof or code changes for building reuse. They incorporated it as a highlight of the room instead of an eyesore, just by changing the color from a dull metallic to a hot orange. Doesn’t this color make you want to wake up in that spot on the bed?

I have the greatest respect for Aēsop, an Aussie shop on Madison Ave, selling imported creams and skin care.  They took over a shoe repair shop and instead of making their store spanky new and clean – to match their line, they juxtaposed it all and incorporated the layers they found when peeling away at an old shoe repair (cobbler) shop. They had the audacity to reveal and unveiled splendid discoveries. http://www.aesop.com/au

Aside from uncovering the mosaic floor, customer’s phone numbers were scratched on the wall as a reminder for the shoemaker to remind them of pick up. This is definitely not the shi-shi Madison Ave of today - that bastion of shopping and privilege it has evolved into. 

I grew up knowing a mixture of two worlds on Madison Ave. It transitioned from run of the mill location to high end shopping. The little known reason for this transformation is because the uber wealthy men living in their Park Avenue sprawls with their families needed a convenient place, something close by their own digs, to stash their bored mistresses. Just think, these were women who were not entitled to bear their lover’s children, take a husband or have a job. With boatloads of money at their disposal what else could they do but shop. And shop they did. A whole Avenue was created for these ladies of leisure - with the latest brands being displayed in their newest looking shops.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see this about face to Mad Ave of letting the old exist alongside the new. And let-me-tell-you if that street can pull it off, we can too!