Paradise Found . . .

They say that at a certain point in time, you wake up and feel that it is the first day of your life, at least a new life that is . . . recently, I have felt shaken AND stirred about changes in me and around me, what I have seen and want to see etc, thus past, reality and future have all converged but I do not know yet how it all joins up?! 

It is clearer now, thank HEAVENS and yes, life is beautiful and carpe diem. Yet to think back over the last few months - the journey to here, well, it's been pretty crazy really and definitely varied.

In my case, it has been about experiences and exposure to the most inspiring things, A LOT of Art, a lot of DESIGN and just as many people and parties. . . 

Yet, things really started to change when I did something which was really completely out of whack with what I normally would do and as far from the water taxis of Venice or the Collector's lounge at Art Basel as one could imagine . . . yet, I know that it was this one month which pretty much changed it all and brought me to where I am now. . .nowhere much really, but happy nonetheless. . 

I was the Creative Director of a brand called Nsha which I started with my childhood friend, I loved what I did, but at a certain point I also realised that there are certain things that you start that you must finish and certain things you must do to retain integrity.  In my case it was my PhD that I started 4 years ago titled Intellectual Property and the Textiles Industry in Developing Countries.  I needed to take time off to write and to think of a Plan B if nsha was not able to accommadate my need to be free from the structure and restraints of a label which was part of a bigger corporate entity.  So I embarked to the island of Sumba, to East Sumba, the most easterly island of Indonesia where I intended to write and surf (more on this later)  . . . it was wonderful.

I went down with Hamish (Hammie) to stay with his father in East Sumba . . .

Our supplies - yes, for only the 2 of us, the porters were intrigued with the spear gun.

Me getting on the plane with a pink backpack filled with more supplies!

En Route to Kalala

The children of the Kingdom of Rende

The road to Kalala

Hammie

In the 5 days that Hammie stayed in Sumba before jetting back to work, I was showed the ropes to wilderness and adventure.  

Lazy water buffalo just chillin

Exploring

My favourite headland with Fred the palmtree

Hammie and I

Hammie and I in the savannah

Part of the exploring and adventure package included fishing - it was my first time . . .

On the way to the boat

Like father, like son

and again

Full moon over the water

Our dinner, which ended up first being stuck down my t-shirt

Hammie finally left, leaving me with David Wyllie - his father, a real life Indiana Jones and a truly inspiring man indeed. 

 David Wyllie

Not only did he remember me from when I was 8 years old in Jakarta where Hammie and I went to school together till we were 11 but he is also a legendary surfer amongst other things but conveniently a gourmet chef as well as an expert on Sumba Ikat, perfect for my thesis.  

An Sumba Ikat textile piece

I miss listening to him recount his stories and tell me when little Thai surfer girl (moi) could hit the waves and where exactly would be good for my amaturishness .  Of course there were other characters around, like Hammie's hermit crab Pippa and my adopted puppy, Puppy, 

My beloved Puppy

and some friends of the Wyllie's came down at the end of my stay - they were great. They were surfers, so I learnt a few things or two and a lawyer, which gives me some hope.  My book of the week was Love in the Time of Cholera, perfect for that mood actually, the colours fit together well, slow, hazy and romantic,  

Puppy and I

I fell in love with East Sumba, it is my paradise and opened my eyes to a world that really is beyond my own, no doubt I will be going back there soon, esp when Puppy is there, there is lobster overload and of course perfect waves and surfing with dolphins (!). 

Oh and not to mention the most sublime, unreal, beyond one's imagination sunsets . . .EVERY SINGLE DAY.

sunsets

So it was back to Bali after Sumba, the thing I appreciated the most was the hot shower that first afternoon. East Sumba is bliss for its simplicity, electricity available via generator only, thus enough for the 400 channel cable TV at night and to charge my laptop and phone for the next day, no running water so a clay well in the bathing shacking where cold fresh water has been kept for bathing after a day in the sun, fresh fish, fresh lamb, fresh avocados . . .

3 boys on the beach

Solitary rider - a rare site

The King of Sabu's village performed a dance for Hammie and I

I don't think they thought I would last - after all, I am scared of the dark, hate bugs, have a phobia of geckos . . . the odds were against me yet, I think about it now everyday, the waves, the air and the stillness which gave me a level of concentration and inspiration unequal to anything I have ever felt.

Lone palm tree at sunrise en route to airport

After 2 whole weeks in East Sumba, Bali, island as it is, did not seem so tranquil even though Hammie does only takes me to the best places and that first hot shower was heaven(!).  Although waking up at 5 am to catch the surf was not my idea of fun pre-Bali/Sumba trip,  I must admit it was pretty magical, sun rising over the water, the light, no people! 

sunrise in Bali 

surf break

It was pretty awesome, and we managed to eat yummy food everyday and do fun things EVERYDAY.  Did I mention that Hammie is not just a surfer boy who eats bananas all day but he also the design director of a local design company and is Creative Director of his family's 20 year old furniture company that does everything from wood, to resin, to steel to bamboo pieces.  

 The surfer

The designer

Can I mention again that I ate really yummy food? 

 

Warung Tugu

the Tugu was definitely a treat - they cooked especially for us, just Hammie and I,

 

ribs and martinis

and so was Naughty Nuri's for the ribs and the martinis, to this day I am not sure if it was the food or the jump into the river in Ubud which was better - nonetheless it was magical . . .we stayed that night in Ubud with Arief, Hammie's friend at the most enchanting River House . . .Arief is great, so much energy so much knowledge and I am sure will follow his mum's (known as the Queen of bamboo) footsteps to become the King of bamboo.  

Finally time to go back to Thailand, my last night in Bali was in the Bukit at Sayan's house where the horizon went on forever and clouds were alive. . . 

clouds and the sky from Sayan's

It was very final in a way, I felt sad for some reason, thank goodness I had Lynn in Singapore who I would stop over to see for 12 hrs. . .and I kid you not, sounds stupid but I remember saying, "Lynn, gimme some heels to wear, I need to know that I can still wear heels" . . and that was one night in Singapore where I was clearly the darkest girl on the block, yes, a month on an island will do that to you.

So I did find my own personal paradise - it seems lost again for now but I know it is still there for me . .. . 

Still June - Part 4 - Seoul . . . Prada-Transformer . . .

Well, forces beyond our control have a way of working themeselves upon us. . .through my second week of despair/procrastination whichever one you wanna call it of my indeterminate gardening leave (yes, the Bkk Interval) of which I am to write as well as commence projects . . . my mentor makes another appearance and this time, well, I did not ask for it but I suppose my head in the clouds let's go around in circles state of mind has people wondering and he said I need to make a choice . . . between 3 things. . . 

Well, it's always about choices isn't it? Before I recap what the choices are, I found myself with an invitation to Seoul for the Prada-Transformer phase 2 opening.

www.prada-transformer.com

After watching Twilight on repeat on the redeye flight to Icheon,a rather long transfer to the Grand Hyatt, then being confronted with this view from my room . . .

 

View from my room 

 

The Transformer is a project in Seoul, a cultural one, on the grounds of  a palace, where Rem Koolhaus designed a structure that transforms into 4 shapes with 4 functions.  It is genius. Really. 

 

The Transformer

The Palace in the Background

The Transformer in the daytime upclose

This second phase is called Cinema, Alejandro Innaritu curated the movies, there will be 3 screenings a day of a movie for the public(for free!) every day for 100 days till it transforms again for Nathalie Djurburg (of the clay animated very funny and surreal video art fame).. .. In its second phase, it blew me away. My mentor lit the Transformer, it shines. . . . I saw the flutist rehearse to a black and white classic, the 5 minutes standing there, my hairs stood up and I got goosebumps, it moved me.  

But-for Seoul friday night traffic I would have seen the opening screening with flutist but of course that should not happen.  It was magical when we did arrive though.. . .with the lit palace in the background. 

sublime

The campaign animation film from AW '08 - remember this?

check out the reflection across the screen

Upclose on the interior

Back to the 3 choices, I explained to my mentor that I finally made a choice, of the three things which were 

1) to get married and build an empire with my husband - probably a design empire of sorts; 

2) fashion; 

3) art.  

I choose fashion (which still relates to my PhD!), see, what I witnessed in Seoul is how fashion can be used as a tool, a tool for expression.  It defeats itself when it becomes to serious and takes itself too seriously but there is skill, labour and love in the industry, not to mention talent and vision.  Prada is a rare example and Mrs. Prada is a visionary with integrity, style and grace - she shows someone like me that anything is possible - it is an industry by its very nature, that moves, that changes and MUST evolve, it can never stay still thus if one can grasp that, what it means that it has the power to change and innovate what is around it.  Of course it also employs a lot of people, 400 million or something . . .so it is not so trivial. 

 

As for me, well you gotta do what you love and who am I fooling, I was making fisherman trousers when I finished highschool and did support myself desiging uniforms, my own label and then nsha. . . so yes "She's in Fashion".

Oh, but do let me regress just a little, the husband and empire thing, before that can happen it is important to figure out somethings for myself first.  I know my Howard Roark (I am adding Edward Cullen the vampire in Twilight to this idea of the ideal man too) is out there, just hope the road to him is not as difficult as Dominique Francon's was.

   

As for third choice art, I love art, it moves me, it inspires me, Art makes things make sense for me.  So I want art to look forward to, to keep learning and keep seeing and finally one day to collect and patron. Hey, a girl can DREAM!

Meeting the Grande Dame of the Korean Contemporay art scene and spending time with her made me realise that you can really do something you love as a career and be happy.  I know she has been through a lot and had her share of difficulties . . .Imagine the response of  a relatively conservative society to Judd, Giacometti and Twombly 20+ years ago.  They were finding the likes of Judd and Flavin difficult in NY in the early 80's, she was showing this stuff at the same time in Seoul.  Brave and inspiring woman.  Her fine art gallery Seomi and Tuus is a testament to great taste, a curious eye which appreciates beauty in its purest sense, movement and also humour.  Upon enterring, you are greeted by an Anish Kapoor.

Seomi and Tuus Gallery

Arnold and I had dinner with her and her son PJ and his lovely wife Carolyn at a great restaurant . . .had no idea Korean food was so pure and varied! Yummy.  Tried summer kimchi for the first time.

Korea is different, neither a Tokyo nor a Hong Kong, a unique entity in itself . . . It became very clear very quickly as well how the country is ruled by oligarchs, 3 families in particular that own Samsung, LG and Hyundai.  Pretty crazy.

Wanderings around town with Giorgio (Saloni's hubby). . .

Yes, THUNDER BURGER . . . .

Ho Lee Chow  - Chinatown diner . . . kinda funny Holy Food - hehe

pink paint job

I avoided the shopping area as my priority was to see the Leeum Museum (or the Samsung Museum)which was amazing - Botta, Koolhaus and Nouvel all in one place holding a spectacular collection of Korean historical The collection in there also makes sense, but reminded me very much of the lady I had dinner with the night before, it was her speaking to me, the combination of Judd, Bourgeoise, Twombly, Eliasson and an amazing early Stella - defined HER!  Also greeted by an Anish Kapoor upon enterring Contemporary section.

Botta Dome from inside

Bambook stair rails leading to Judd

Koolhaus' education centre - part of Leeum Museum

Me with Bourgeoise's baby to Maman spider

Back to Prada . . .

Of course there could be no fashion event without a party, Jan Kennedy, producer and event organiser extraordinaire and Prada's go-to man scoped out a nice location with a rooftop with a view and ready for midnight burgers, it was called Space. 

 

Getting ready for the party . . . .

Space 

While Mrs. Prada and movie people dined, I was with Mimi Xu, amazing hot quirky chick and DJ for the night . . .thank goodness it was Mimi! Prada flew her out from Paris, whilst having a drink with Jan earlier, who I met in Venice 2 years ago with Matteo and I had bumped into on the lift, she popped in to say hi. . . Hurrayy - I was not alone (Arnold left earlier)! Olivier (Alex de Betak's friend) from Paris was around too. 

Mimi and I

Olivier and Mimi

All in all, Prada people rock and the party was fab . . . would have loved to keep going but at a certain point the champagne will  knock you out. . . 

as it did to this poor girl - "Is this real life?"

I rode back with Sebastian Suhl of Prada - super nice and funny guy . . . next day he helped me find my phone that I temporarily lost . .. told me what I had missed Seoul nightlife at its most debauch and hilarious :( and also invited me to watch a screening on Sunday - so so so bummed I could not stay.

So all in all, Seoul was wonderful, to spend time with my mentor, with old friends and make new ones . . .  I even managed to get my friend Yeop's number on my last day, he came over to the hotel to have lunch with me - he is another very creative kid, galleries, design projects and property development. 

So yes, totally got Prada'd in Korea and Seoul's got soul!!!!

 

Interval in Bkk

Europe took a while to recover from, it was hard to resurface to see people again. . . and to do that was to explain what I was doing as I suppose the world is such that everyone needs a title for you especially in your hometown!  I was definitely not ready . . . .nor was I ready to write again . . . Thank goodness for Lynn and her Trust Fun project, P'Oh and the Jazz project which I am writing the foreward for and being an ambassadress for Corto Moltedo. Well, also the only bit of nsha I retained and what MADAME CHICHI has in mind. Can't seem to stray too far from fashion now.

 

So yes, there are nsha x baseman bikinis that are just waiting to be launched . . . .this is how they look like . . . 

I think that it deserves a proper proper launch . . . Gary is a dear friend and an imaginative artist with skills and a great sense of humour.  I will need to do something really good for him.   

 

So my return to bkk was about sleep sleep sleep and more sleep with the occasional fun activity . .. in this case, it was Piyatat Hematat's (P'Oh) new Jazz project . . . he has been commissioned to do a series of works to include pictures of live performers . . . the one night I was there last week, an old-school drummer from an infamous Thai band got up and stage and jammed with the little quartet.  It was so fly! And did I mention the saxophonist was just so amazing . .. more to come on this tip.  He is photographing the band at the new Jazz Gallery just of Khao San, the owners are real jazz and music enthusiasts and has patroned P'Oh to work on this series as well as publish a book . . . pics to come.  I really admire P'Oh as a photographer, he is honest with his own serene and unique point of view - it is sharp yet not intimidating but by no means soft, his works understand the relationship btw light and darkness, he is great with shadows.  I shall post some pics up later. . . . my faves are from a series called Civilsation and not to mention the Fountainhead lookbook/campaign he did for nsha.

Backdrop for Civilsation

Trustfun is my sis Lynn's thing in Singapore, they throw parties and events, it's a new thing but they are doing very good so far.  It's AWESOME, we skype all the time about which artists to bring and well, all those ideas have come down planning a music festival, international of course, but that is for the future, for now, Lynn will be throwing some sick parties . .. .  I am very proud of her I must say . . . fun fun fun! 

The other big "event" was umm, Tant's bday, now that was FUN . . . and the odd nights spent at Falla Bella.  

N'Tant a couple nights before her party . . .

I have recently made a new group of friends, it is recent, after nsha, so since about April, they are an entourage and I feel like the new girlie member - these kids are great - positive, AMAZING taste and NOT too cool for school nor are they haters like a lot of kids who have cool up their bums and are annoying.  It's been really fun.   Nat Sarasas is kinda like the Vincent Chase of the lot is fantastic, he has VISION, real vision and the means to execute this vision.  I am really impressed with his new project on Koh Kood and also what he wears everyday!  He has a Turtle in the entourage who is Jeed, he is the sneakerhead - hi blog http://jeedjaad.wordpress.com/ is DOPENESS - another one with great taste and soo many kicks.  Then there are Vudi and Tay, I suppose they are like Drama and Eric? Nice kids generally. 

 

 P'Nat and N'Tui

Another new friend is Cleo Le Tan I was introduced to Cleo by Andre and she is working here in bkk but we actually met at the coat check at Montana during the shows in March, she has become like another little sister (I have now like 5 "little sisters") . . .  she's a riot and uber intelligent.

Cleo and I

I say interval here because I am never quite sure how long I will spend in Bkk at any given time . . . but this was a good one, strange and a different pace, especially from bouncing around Europe and 18 months of nsha. . . I am ready for it now and rather like it, this going with the flow and pulling together my strengths. . . it's harder but hey, whoever said it would be EASY?

The month of June - Part 3 - Paris pit-stop

Paris pit-stop before home, should have really stayed in Basel seeing as I spent the day with John Lin, who was en route there and we would have done the Gabe/John/Dee/Davide thing that was Padova in Basel but no I was in Paris.  Lovely day with John and went to choose my Corto bag of the season, well, of the summer, I chose the Brown Phython Elisabeth, it was definitely hot and definitley subtle at the same time (many pics of me with this bag to follow). I also loooooove this white one too.

My Paris days were just about thinking my whole month through, seeing old friends, just basically, chilling. THAT WAS A REASON in itself.  Where else can you stroll down to a cafe and sit for hours like in Paris? 

 

I had an impromptu and lovely dinner with my old friend Stephanie Betant, Stephy has great friends, we had a hilarious dinner. . . at Cafe de l'epoque, great food, great atmosphere.  Yummy chocolate mousse.

My friend Frantz Braha of Lacoste was also in town so met up with him too.

My last day in Paris was lovely, strolling, coffee . . .

Love this window - Pink Goyard + Pink Piggies!!!!

and this . . .

 Quite funny and sweet.

usual catch up with the ever-so-cool and very sweet Guillaume Salmon, who made it clear that my recent taking to smoking rollies with American Spirit tobacco was the most unfeminine thing I could do EVER.  Hehe.  

Then hanging with Matteo of Casa Carracia in the 7th and a lovely 2 hours spent sitting a the Flore . . . only in Paris where you can sit and watch the world go by and have old friends walk in by accident and end up sitting down with you . . .in my case it was Christian Liagre and Ramdane! Christian who designed Societe down the road and is now renovating a home in the 7th and Ramdane just back from Basel where he had designed the costumes for Il Tempo Postino.  

My last dinner in Paris where I ended up alternating between 2 dinners. . . with intimate friends and then with a good friend and his friends was at Fidelite.  The latter being dinner with Andre, also fresh off the plane from Basel for dinner with me and Paulo Bronco, the film producer of over 200 films, he is one of Andre's faves.  Yes, the guy is a genius and understands the idea of multi-disciplinary everything - I was blown away . . . Thanks Andre.  So maybe September in Portugal. . .