***PLEASE NOTE THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED***
As the second giveaway this week in celebration of Do What You Love’s 2nd birthday, I have put together a bundle of creative inspiration from Japan where I recently spent six months having a fantastic adventure, learning traditional crafts and taking thousands of photos.
The winner of this giveaway will get:
***PLEASE NOTE THIS GIVEAWAY HAS NOW ENDED***
We are kicking off our week of giveaways (in celebration of Do What You Love’s second birthday) with a free place on Bloom True the e-course with Flora Bowley.
Saturday was such a lovely day. It was wintry and clear, and perfect for a train ride to Hebden Bridge for the launch of Hannah Nunn’s new book. The launch party was held at her lovely lighting shop Radiance, which was buzzing with family, friends and shoppers cooing over the book and over all the delights the store has to offer.
Today’s shared story comes from Eileen Nishi, a photographer based in the USA, who has made some bold choices to allow her to do what she loves. Eileen was one of the first people to share their story, back in March 2011 soon after we launched the series. You can read her original post here. She is back to tell us how her story has unfolded since then. This story is a testament to what can happen when you truly commit to something you are passionate about.
My workspace in Miura-san’s beautiful studio
As promised in yesterday’s ‘Behind the curtain’, this is the first in a series of posts sharing how to make a traditional noren curtain – something I learnt under the watchful eye of talented kimono designer Miura-san.
People say it is hard to get under the skin of Japan as a foreigner, and this is even more the case in Kyoto, a proud city which highly values tradition and ancestry. Even though we were there for six months, and I can speak the language, it was not until the fifth month that something happened which made me feel like I had managed to peep behind the curtains.
Today’s shared story comes from Traci Penrod. After 17 years in the pharmaceutical industry Traci decided that her career just didn’t tap into her creative side enough. She enjoyed scrapbooking so much that in October of 2011, she decided to take a leap of faith and start her own company.
The Japanese word for brush calligraphy – shodo – literally means ‘the way of writing’, which I think perfectly captures the essence of it.
When I went to the kimono design studio to work on my noren curtain (more on that soon), I was not expecting to have a geisha come in for a spot of shopping…
Arriving in Tokyo back in March without much of a plan
I like to think of myself as a very organised person. I love lists, notebooks, getting things in order. But that is only one part of my personality. Another part – the bohemian wandering part – has no interest whatsoever in being organised. And that is probably how I came to write in my journal, whilst sat on a plane to Japan at the beginning of this six month trip, that “I have never felt quite so unprepared for a trip in my life as I do for this one.”