It was a happy coincidence last year when I visited Tokyo I met Mr. Narita who was the contractor to build both the Traveler's Factory Nakameguro store and the Narita Airport store. I was blessed to see some of the sketches at times before the stores were built.
Courtesy from Mr. Narita on his Flickr site, you can see "the making of " photos from the former paper factory situated in Nakameguro Tokyo to the current Traveler's Factory principle store. From stories I heard, it was built with a lot of hearts from choosing the site, material specification and sourcing, sign painting to the product selection. It is definitely one of the classic stores in our lifetime.
Today is a proud release of my Chronodex scheduler with GTD to-do list function! I had about 10 minutes of quiet time in the morning but then crazy whatsapp messages came in with lots of unfinished tasks, which reminded me of the importance of sitting down undisturbed to plan a good day.
It was first developed in November 2013 for my personal use and I've been filling it up with tasks in many of the busier days. I've modified it into a 3rd version and now ready to share with you busy bees. I usually use my Traveler's Notebook with two refills: A dated Chronodex Weekly Planner and a blank notebook for tasks, notes, drawings etc. However in busier days when tasks overflow or when I travel for business, a daily version is necessary. I've made it suitable to print on A4 paper, so that when you fold it two times evenly (a z-fold), you get a Traveler's Notebook sized task killer, simply slide it into the notebook and pull out quickly when in need.
There is not enough time for me to explain in details how to use it here, perhaps I can cover it later. But simply, one fold is a Chronodex daily scheduler with "TODAY'S FOCUS" and "GRATITUDE NOTE" sections to help you run your day with clear objectives and highlight the more beautiful things you find from your day. It also has small icons for you to track how many cups of water you have drank and weather icons to log your day.
The 2nd fold is the major GTD "Next Action" tab, where you want to lay your tasks in priority and kill them one by one. The 3rd fold is the usual GTD "Projects", "Waiting For" and "Someday/Maybe" tabs.
If you print it double sided, you can save a lot of papers because one paper can be used for 2 days. If you would like to use it without Traveler's Notebook, simply hold your pile of A4 papers with a binder's clip, it is a great way to have a dashboard like this on your desk lying flat.
It works great for me to plan my business trip days at terminals and coffee shops, I just needed to pull out the z-folded planner and start to write freely.
I've seen a lot of creativity from people using Chronodex without me explaining how to use it, perhaps someday I will, but for this daily version, I think it works very much similarly just with a GTD touch and self-explanatory. So, for now, that's all. Please download and share for free, but again it is entirely for personal use and please don't sell it. I will work hard to find time making Chronodex products into reality someday.
Thanks to my great friend Mr. Thomas Huang who generously shared these beautiful Mac icons to the world. I couldn't help but to post them immediately. 2 weeks ago Thomas was being invited to our culture club LOG-ON Togather to share his "10 Reasons to Love TN" to our members. During his presentation, he promised to share some of his beautifully created icons and he did just now. Enjoy! Download here.
這是Thomas在聚會中答應大家的Mac icon。以下是他在Traveler's Notebook Hong Kong User Group面書群組的post:
We human beings all search for what speaks our mind through all sorts of medium isn't it? Be it an art installation, a photograph, a painting, an article or even a simple desk arrangement; our bodily tools are so limiting simple language, gestures and facial expressions just don't seem to convey enough essence and importance of what our minds have been going through (alright poor English here, maybe it is suffice to say "don't seem to do the justice"). We need the medium viewer to go through similar torture or spend the similar amount of energy, to convey just a bit more, which is fantastic, immensely more liberating and interesting than just hearing the shorten form "I'm sad", BECAUSE there is always beauty springing off from these attempts.
(Faber-Castell Ondoro Smoke Oat fountain pen weighs 42 grams. Beautiful contrast of wood and chrome materials. The only thing I am uneasy of this pen is the "hollow" feeling when it is in use, perhaps due to wood's lower density, every stroke to me generates an echo. Oh "Echo", I may like a pen which echos me indeed, I do)
The tools creating these medium, your hands for an art installation, your camera to create an image, your brush to create those strokes, your pen to flow ideas into an article, we too search for those perfect object-mates, but are we ever sure we have found the perfect match? Same goes, the beauty lies in the attempts. Through attempts you discover yourselves, through attempts you discover what's not, and through attempts you find …. beauty!
(My postman says Kaweco SketchUp 5.6 weighs 45 grams. Just the right weight to spill my idea/graphite onto paper, fingers act as lever to amplify my slight pressure increase from the wrist to produce just enough darkness and width. There is even a sharpener at the back cap. I will probably not be able to finish the graphite until another cool and better one comes along though)
So do lust for your perfect pen or camera, coz it is a noble attempt, but when you are able to find one true love, all the properties don't matter anymore.
(I bought a vegie bag while I was in Tokyo two weeks ago, perfect to host my Traveler's Notebook and Leica M240 inside with great accessibility. Yes I'm afraid my treasures are accesible to theives too. Yes the straps are not for human men. Yes camera and paper are susceptible to rain drops. No, I could not refuse the urge to pull them out every single moment when I experience something new in the trip)
(I had fun to disassemble an iStick, which is great for transferring files between computers and iPhone/iPad, vice versa. Reason to disassemble: I hate the plastic cover and found a way to enclose it into leather. During the attempt, I found a robot cuteness from its core and had some fun attaching my Lego C3PO parts onto it, yup miniature coffee and Traveler's Notebook included)
(Video shot with Leica M240, stablized by youtube)
Imagine flying on a plane looking at my stationery landscape from high above. Beautiful song by Dimitri From Paris featuring Pink Martini. Yup, I was busy flying around HK/Shanghai/Japan/Korea lately. Next trips to Shanghai/Korea in October. Sorry, I'm so slow in my blog, but rest assure the instagram feed is the best place to tag on my journeys.
Syracuse
J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse L'ile de Paques et Kairouan Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent A glisser l'aile sous le vent
Voir les jardins de Babylone Et le palais du Grand Lama Rever des amants de Verone Au sommet du Fuji Yama
Voir le pays du matin calme Aller pecher le cormoran Et m'enivrer de vin de palme En ecoutant chanter le vent
Voir le pays du matin calme Aller pecher le cormoran Et m'enivrer de vin de palme En ecoutant chanter le vent
Avant que ma jeunesse s'use Et que mes printemps soient partis J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse Pour m'en souvenir a Paris
Why I did this update? I needed to slow down and turned down going out on Sunday, listening to Jazz radio and dwelling in these beautiful landscapes. So beautiful I had to make a video and bring everybody with me flying for just one minute.
Then all hell broke loose, there are so many stories behind each piece of treasure, I am to write just a little bit here after.
Something annoyed me for a long while, right behind my desk there is this window I hate. Normally I love windows, this one, landlord decided to replace a broken air conditioner with one that must be sealed onto the window, somehow the contractor had to glue the whole thing and the window couldn't be turned open anymore. The heat, the vibration noise, arghhhh, I couldn't even install a curtain anymore, my desktop monitor would be impossible to look at during day time. Anyways, I faced the same problem today, kid just gave me a solution which I never thought of. I got some nice Norens (Japanese fabric dividers) bought from Traveler's Factory and ITOYA, and we just clipped them onto the window and it was almost a perfect day. Beautiful Japanese design. Vibration still goes on, but it is alreay a lot better.
A few days ago, as usual I got pissed off with vague empty monkey ideas which everybody seems to have opinions about how to realize but none could specify exactly how. I could "let it go", but my problem is I couldn't bear such ugly outcome if I were not getting my hands dirty. Luckily I have the experience using SketchUp for close to 10 years now, I found a crack of time and I had to specify it clearly.
Got me into thinking: physical form follows function, conceptual form follows intentions. Yes design is an iteration process, building something starts from fulfilling function with form, great designs infiltrate aesthetics and intentions into the form in the process. Most people forget that the most important aspect of customer experience is YOUR intention, how is that being designed. Losing focus on that, you get a piece of junk sitting around doing nothing.
Got me into thinking: form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Buddhist's word.
Got me into recalling: "Who? Who is but the form following the fuction of what and what I am is a man in a mask". V for Vendetta.
Back to stationery. I usually use my Kaweco SketchUp 5.6 for rough draft, Rotring 800+ (which has a nice twist and hide mechanism to protect the needle head and a nice stylus tip, got it from ITOYA a week ago in addition to my Rotring 800) for finer lines drawn on my Traveler's Notebook. Then I move on to SketchUp for simulation in exact measurement.
Which lead me into another project, a space to be created in a new store coming up in December, for gathering with customers having fun together, once in a while with interesting exhibitions. I can't be fully involved but according to some, this space is important to my departments, so if I don't specify it will go astray to my dismay. Then there was this Saturday afternoon having fun and deeper discussion with partner Out of Stock. What interests me is that picking people's brain trying to integrate and elevate something satisfies me immensely.
Got me into thinking: what's the most common pattern in nature? I was thinking of honeycomb hexagon when designing flexible tables, allowing multiple arrangements and collapsable for storage. Turned out there is no such thing as "the most common", there are variety of patterns in nature, spirals, fractuals, chaos, waves, etc. Thank God I have this wondering journey of discovery and linkage back to my science education, which is mostly an intellectual process I enjoy most for the work I do.
Which leads us back in time for a week when I was in Tokyo/Osaka. It was a 7 days travel to visit trade show, meet suppliers and explore places and spaces. At one point I sat down in a nice cafe in Nakazakicho (中崎町), Osaka, which is a really nice area with small shops and cafes. I thought of my extremity being in certain roles at one time but completely another roles in other times crossing disciplines, it felt almost unbearable having my personality and skills split into compartments, unable to manage it I would become a mad man getting nowhere. How to simplify such management was the thought in that very cafe.
Got me into a thought experiment: Can't just be a lighthouse in a tea cup, able to show direction but knowing just that and in a small world. Can't just be an explorer seeing so much there is no place to berth and share what I see into the future. Can't be both at the same time either. What I need to become? Need to be fluid-like waveform and become Schrödinger's cat, observe me I'm a lighthouse, observe me again I'm an explorer. Can I master this meta personality? I have a long way to go.
(Flannagan, Osaka)
Alright Osaka was fun, I wish I stopped by Kyoto instead but it was a rush decision. I thought I hadn't been there for 5 years so I wanted to see what was changed. Visited 15 stores, two most loved ones are Flannagan and Standard Bookstore. Despite unable to communicate in English, staff at Flannagan tried very hard to explain everything I asked. It has no big difference than the last time I visited, but this time I asked more. Except Meister Tools Pen, which is from Japan, all of their products are imported from Europe/USA. The most recent import was from Russia, a 350 yen 2.0 lead mechanical pencil with a sharpener cap, an attractive deal.
(Standard Bookstore)
Standard Bookstore was relaxing to read, to grab stationery and to have a nice cup of coffee. I got a Apartamento magazine and a book called True Portland. Spent more than the usual time to walk around the stationery and lifestyle product sections and of course a cup of coffee in their cafe. There is a certain rawness in it, kind of organized un-neatly yet organized and motivates a sense of discovery. It is a perfect place to spend an entire day, we need these spaces.
(Trans-Lankhe)
Oh there is another place I stumbled upon, a home/interior shop called Trans-Lankhe, close to Flannagan. I feel that this is a shop managed by Dulton, a brand I love a lot, but I'm not sure. I love their cabinets, far-sight eyeglasses, small things like wooden trays and clips as well as those cans and accessories.
(Doutor Coffee, working on Chronodex planning 5 people's schedule for the next day)
Back further before visiting Osaka, it was almost all business and meetings in Tokyo, except in small chunks of time when I was in Doutor Coffee, ITOYA and Angers.
(ITOYA, Ginza, Tokyo)
ITOYA, ITOYA! I lost a lot of blood over there, it is a family in stationery business I admire a lot. There are intentions and histories there. Yup, you can spend a full day there and it is not enough. Currently their original building is still under re-construction hopefully seeing light into opening in 2015, a temporary building is used but you still get a full 7-8 floors full of stationery, an annex close by called K.ITOYA hosts finer selections of fountain pens, art supplies and study room essentials. Be prepared to die in this heaven, I got a wooden pencase called AvanWood there, well and many other stuffs too, its a poison.
(Angers in KITTE Marunouchi, Tokyo)
Angers originates from Kyoto since 1993, it is one of the stores with stronger intentions you can tell from product selection and merchandise mix, things are right beside each other for reasons, unlike Loft and Hands which are more commercially oriented and you would have no interest to find out who's behind them (they are still far superior than many Western stationery businesses IMHO), Angers shows telltale signs in every corner. To put it simply, signage speaks character, as to what character you can perceive from the store, you just have to visit it.
Oh of course there is the Traveler's Factory in Narita Airport. This time I brought two colleagues to see it, every corner of the store speaks of details. You know all the signages there were painted by hands from the original designer, factory only products, rubber stamps, etc all guarantee a few hours of stay even though it is a tiny shop comparing to the flagship factory shop in Meguro.
Why TN is loved by so many? In addition to the flexibility for customization, the leather, the paper etc, I will tell you why: Serendipity. It's a long story by itself of where this TN movement came from, it is other long stories of how things evolved around my life with it. Simply said, I met a lot of friends from around the world because of it, you too have to step out of your zone and meet other users, it changes your perspectives and I mean it.
(mini meet-up in Tokyo with Shigeru and Rocketman, together with Suzuki and Rita)
For a while, Mr. Shigeru follows my instagram and I thought he only plays Ukulele, nothing to do with stationery or TN. Then this July I saw his feed showing Traveler's Factory Narita in construction as well as Designphil's booth construction in time lapsed video, I got curious and asked if he is involved in the same industry. Turned out he is a contractor for Designphil helping to build these things and he has been a TN user for many years. Alright, let's come out when I visit in Sep I said, then dispite the language barrier we met in Nonbei Yokocho for a drink, together with my visiting colleagues. Then Rocketman joined all of a sudden, I knew him only on Flickr liking his photos and he is actually a TN user too, he is probably uploading the most TN photos to the Flickr group and what a surprise I could finally meet him in person. Rocketman sings in a hobby band, catalogs his meals meticulously on his TN, loves photography just like me and tries to visit new places every year.
Aren't we all connected? Yes but if you are connected to people just on the net and never met any one of them, you missed a lot. There are so much more in each of us that's worth sharing and peeking.
(mini meet-up with Traveler's Notebook Korean users)
Each TN is a conversation starter. Last year I had a great time visiting Korea to join a TN user gathering and we couldn't have enough. So far, users in Korea are way more willing to show and share their TN usage than people in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. This year I visited Seoul again for business but at the end of the last day my friend and business partner Mr. Shin said we should head back to his office for discussion, alright we were tired but no problem, a few more hours of hard work will pay off. Turned out it was a surprise gathering with familiar and new faces! I was so happy despite being tired. We swapped TNs to see what's happening lately to each other and how each one added personal touches to their TNs, be it customization or usage.
Who they are? Mathematics teacher in University, fashion industry mercahndiser, fountain pen fanatic with a background in theoratical physics, tour guide, fine art student etc. See the diversity and how everyone enjoys sharing? I learned a lot too.
One unexpected nice gift was from a fine art student who painted in very fine lines my avator onto a TN refill!
Earlier this year, Voloymyr from Ukraine came to Hong Kong travelling with family, we knew each other briefly on facebook only but when he said he was going to leave Hong Kong the next day, I couldn't resist to come out very late a night just to catch up chatting with him. I wondered what is happening in Ukraine, how he can spend 6 months working and then 6 months of vacation with family year after year, etc etc. Stories and life diversity again and again. Well, he didn't really go away, he left for Indonesia with family and filled up 128 pages of his TN and came back to Hong Kong for yet another brief meet up. Amazing, he is back to Ukraine now, hopefully I will meet him again.
August this year, I was in Shanghai for a brief stay to help set up our ¬ [DESKBOUND] campaign (I would love to tell you more about this but maybe later). On the last day I was carrying my luggage walking around the campaign area for a final glimpse, "Breeze in May" came and poking here and there in the TN zone, I was trying to answer her questions as much as possible in such short time. She finally became a TN user, at this moment I think she is working on her USA vacation itinerary on TN :)
I met many new users in Hong Kong too! During the ¬ [DESKBOUND] campaign in Hong Kong in early August, I brought my Kingsley machine to Times Square for a pop-up event, helping customers to emboss their TN with gold foil. A family from Singapore, a secretary, a TN couple, etc etc. We are going to have a great meet-up in Hong Kong soon I promise! How about December when there is a new space we can use?
(¬ [DESKBOUND] event in city'super, Times Square, Hong Kong)
(a sample TN I drew on the cover with gold acrylic for display)
Alright, I'm writing too long and heading nowhere. Before wrapping up, let me give you a little tip on TN.
If you have bought the brass index clip, have you ever wonder how other people are using it so that it won't fall off from the edge? I did. Here's a simple solution for you, just tape the back of the clip onto the page with masking tape, that's it. Masking tapes are easily removable and you can relocate the index clip very easily. Securing the clip using masking tape also helps to prevent excessible movement of the index clip which can easily damage the paper on the edge. Good tip eh?
Finally, back to the Stationery Landscape topic. I travel relatively more than other people, yet I feel seriously not enough coz most of my trips are on very tight business schedule, leaving me not much time to explore with people and places. But life is like that isn't it? Not enough not enough not enough, when can we start to enjoy more? Let's steal time, find cracks, take moral advantages and be explorers meeting new people and making new friends on those common landscapes, I'm sure through that, we can be lighthouses to other people once in a while.
If you have reached this far of this blog post hahahah, its time to go back to the video and enjoy that one minute fly over with me once again, over the stationery landscape of mine.
For all travelers who have a diary, you need a bookmark. Well, you can buy a bookmark but what if you can create your own with a material accessible because of your traveling spirit? Look no further than your very own luggage, the material is just your airline luggage tag, which was given to you free during your last check-in. The history and evolution of luggage tag is worth to read here, but before RFID tags becomes everyday object, you better start to collect these silicon/plastic/adhesive/barcode based tags right now, just like those of you who collect vintage luggage tags before.
These magic tags are resistant to moisture, heat/cold, sunlight, ice, oil and all the wear and tear which can occur during your luggage's journey from home to destination. Dozens of patents were filed around the 90s, not only did the design make sure of the tags' durability but the integration of barcode into tracking systems made accurate delivery a defacto.
So here's how you make a bookmark out of the tags. You will make a thin piece of bookmark to be inserted onto your notebook's spine with a small tab extended out of your closed notebook. First, pick a portion of your tag with the graphics you want, in my case it is where black stripes and arrows are located. Fold it and glue the two halves to make your tab. Next, also finding the portion of the graphics you like then fold and glue to make a longer piece of horizontal stripe, finally gluing it onto the first tab you've just made. That's it!
This is how it looks, preferably you would want to make both sides of the bookmark look good because you will see both sides when you use it. Tip: make sure the thinnest part of your bookmark is in the middle where there is only one layer of material, because this part is going to sit at the spine of your notebook between your notebooks' pages.
Inserting is easy. For Chronodex users who don't need to bind their pages (because it is held with just an elastic band), simply insert the bookmark through the spine so half of the bookmark is sitting on the other side of the spine (gee I'm so clumsy with words). For Traveler's Notebook refill users, the refills are stapled on the spine, so you can tailor your bookmark about 3cm in height, which allows you to insert the bookmark close to the top of the refills, works like a charm. The pressure of a closed notebook on the spine will keep your bookmark safe. For people using refills that have the entire spine stitched or glued, this bookmark is not for you.
I hope you've enjoyed a little bit of history and a lot of fun gluing these tags!
It is time for the release of the next 6 months' worth of Chronodex!
In 2011, my family received thousands of prayers for my father's condition, it was a lot of positive and calming energy and I still appreciate many of your kind messages to this date.
Chronodex as a creative tool was shared to make a difference in traditional and limiting grid-style scheduling. It was also shared to elevate positive energy for myself and my family. This time my wife needs your prayers, tomorrow she will go through an operation as the first battle against breast cancer, there will be a series of followup treatments I hope it will pass like a breeze. I hope to maintain a clear mind and yet being able to take it easy for why things happened the way they are, in terms of work, love, dreams and health (Did I just unconsciously telling myself that I've been putting these in the wrong priority?).
The Chronodex Facebook Page is going to be the center of version releases, news update, hacks sharing, so please do stop by once in a while to see what others are doing with their Chronie.
The Chronodex Flickr Group is a place where nicer photos were taken by users. The Instagram hash tag #chronodex allows you to find yet another bunch of interesting users and the crazy things they've done.
On the other hand, do Google up Chronodex for the fun of it. There have been a lot of mods in various paper sizes (A5, filofax, etc) or altered cores, as long as they are shared free, I'm ok. Some of the Chronodex super fans reported that there are people on Etsy selling Chronodex, that I'm not ok. So far, I've issued no license to anybody for commercial usage, but I will consider if it is a quality implementation.
Although creating your own ways to notate from a Chronodex core is encouraged, be it colors, pinpointing on tick marks or radiate from zones etc, I do have some tips I want to share in 2014. That's why I'm working on an upgrade of the core (now in its version 8, 9 and 10) which will allow you to draw with guides and simply look more elegant and smart. In the mean time, Maryanne Moll (Thanks Maryanne) did some nice videos on youTube sharing her way of using Chronodex, take a look:
For the fun of it, here's some beautiful Chronodex to look at:
(@momojin made this rubber stamp for herself by hand!)
(I've visited Seoul for business at the end of October, we had a great gathering of the Traveler's Notebook Korea User Group, they are absolutely amazing TN and Chronodex users, which I'm gonna talk about it in later posts. Jessica and several of her friends printed the Chronodex core on the passport size and kind enough to find a page not too personal to share here)
Finally, some of you already knew I have a Chronodex stamp under progress. It was too bad one of the parts maker went out of business so I had to find another quality maker to continue the project. I've tried many different ways and I found an elegant solution, I am determined to release a self-inking Chronodex stamp in 2014, you will love it!
Chronodex friends here you go! The July to December 2013 version is released, feel free to download and plan ahead your visual scheduling for the rest of the year.
Here are some of the places you can interact with other Chronodex users:
Yes Chronodex is kind of weird, it looks a bit too complicated, it is not like any other traditional scheduling tools, but it is inspirational and free style. I made it so as to break the rules of scheduling, most diaries/schedule books have rigid grids and timeline which limit the available space for you to write notes related to your schedule, you can use any space on the paper to link your time specific entries thus free from the traditional constraints.
Look at our beautiful cross harbour tunnel, it is a 'grid', it is 'rigid' but it works in mass transportation because it provides a system and create order. It is dull too, especially in times of traffic jam and rainy days. What you have to dissect is that there is a difference between mass order and personal creativity. Chronodex is for your personal creativity in what seems to be a rigid time system, it is for you to exploit/explore the space nobody ever made constraints of.
I've also made Chronodex a free download to share in 2011 when my father was too old and too sick lying on bed struggling, questioning himself feeling useless. We had no way to help, prayers from all of you mysteriously helped somehow IMHO, but the thing is, I wanted to prove that everything is connected, he was not and never useless, if people appreciate Chronodex, it was because of him I existed and being educated by him into a person with inquisitive mind. He should be proud of himself, even though there was no way I could convey this to him during his deterioriation. Today on the Star Ferry lower deck, I saw a grandfather holding his grandson's T-shirt looking over the harbour an European tall ship cruising by, the light tug, the togetherness and a sense of exploration made me sob inside, recalling my own exploration with Dad and his brief time with my own kid.
Tonight, Mom told me her encounter with Dad on his 140th day of passing which happens to be my little brother's birthday. A cicada was standing weakly on the floor where Dad used to stay often, she picked it up with both hands and prayed the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒), bringing it to the window seam and left it there. Minutes later, it flew away energetically full of life. The scene reminds us of the Chao Shao-an (趙少昂)'s painting which my Dad loved so much and had been on our living room wall for the longest time, AND it is Lychee season now. Can you see all the connections and emotions?
The stuffs we hold dear of, always leave impressions for people close and around us, these things are proves of our existence painted over with emotions and mysterious connections.
So this coming week, like the last, I will be out of my home town heading Shanghai for a week of intensive preparation of a new store launch. Love the travel, hate the separation, enjoying everything in between.
Meanwhile, Traveler's Notebook fans in Hong Kong had a great time in the Star Ferry ride, after-party and small meet-ups. I hope to do it more often, feel free to drop by our Facebook group. Now, follow me for a 15 seconds tranquil journey across the lovely Victoria Harbour.
We spent 8 months in preparation to launch the Star Edition TRAVELER's notebook, it was unbelievable how the project sucked away my time from normal work, but it was super rewarding. Tomorrow will be the day when we can get on the "Shinning Star" ferry to enjoy a sunny day of the 1st Official TRAVELER'S notebook Hong Kong Gathering!
Nearly a 100 fans, friends and staff will go onboard. Participants will receive a pack of Star Edition cookie made freshly by Aunt Stella (all natural ingredients mixed in small bowl before baking) and a set of event only stickers kindly created by Designphil. Our Korean TN friend won't be able to come but he made an interesting pin/badge for each of the participants too!
There will be 3 corners on the ferry in addition to the beautiful open deck on two sides where TN friends can enjoy a great harour view. Customization corner will feature loads of scrap materials, masking tapes, event only rubber stamps and beads. I will bring along my Kingsley leather hot stamp machine for an event only emboss for participants too. Rubber stamp crafting corner will have demonstration of how to use a typical eraser and carving knife to make your own rubber stamp. Presentation corner will feature slides of old Hong Kong and a collector will share the stories he found from these old Star Ferry postcards and tickets.
(photo credit: mimuthings workshop)
We've also made a huge event poster at the lower deck where TN friends can take photo in front of the ferry wheel to play coxwain.
Who will be there in this historic event? THE Designphil TRAVELER'S notebook project owner Iijima san and designer Hashimoto san, brining along 7 Japanese TN fans flying HK just to be on the ferry. Alan Cheung the crazy collector who can talk hours and hours of old Hong Kong and Star Ferry. Shizue Takehara san who is an art exhibition organizer and rubber stamp fanatic, she helped to arrange Hong Kong artist and rubber stamp carving teacher Fion Wong onboard to give TN fans a glimpse of how easy it is to bring creativity into your TN life.
In addition to Japanese TN fans, we will have two French magazine editors from Pinholet, also fans of TN, coming onboard looking at the content of my bag and reporting this event. They are here in Hong Kong to gather materials for their magazine issue specifically about Hong Kong sub-culture, featuring Michael Wolf pictures, HK Honey, Shanghai Street Studios, So Soap, Kacey Wong's work and Tom Grundy's explorations (remember his attempt of citizen's arrest on Tony Blair in Hong Kong).
Stationery freaks in Asia have probably noticed a new dream store in Taiwan called TOOLS to LIVEBY (禮拜文房具) by now. Guess what, founder and owner Karen Yang has flown to HK just for this too! To my delight my dear TN friend "Fishball" is also flying here to join us. Finally, digital scrapbooking and installation artist Lie Fhung from Indonesia whom happens to be the 008 TRAVELER'S notebook Professional User couldn't resist the temptation to come as well.
Can you imagine? We are all connected through TN. I wish my UK friend Colin Edwards could come, we are connected through TN and my blog and he used to travel to Hong Kong in his youth. Now do I sound like this is my Tuesday-with-Morris type of funeral which everybody I hold dear of can attend? It does.
Lastly, before I start to pack my bag for the ferry ride, I would like to express my dismay of being unable to write on Scription as much as I would like to. My job has the most rewarding things one could get from a job ever, but at the same time as an employee in business (oh this blog is personal BTW), the under manpower and workload is killing the whole team and drained my energy. Like this Conklin fountain pen, the beauty and aura it emanates can't be measured by numbers, frequencies, profit or a paycheck, you will never pick this pen up if that's all you look for, you will not put this in your store if that's all you look for. I fall for beauty and aura.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw this news from friend and Traveler's Notebook fanatics at Miscellaneous, whom also operates Travelers-notebook.com for the European market (origin: Amsterdam).
Nop, I know nothing about it yet, but here's what I've learned so far:
In collaboration with Nigel Calbourn, Midori proudly presents the TRAVELERS'S notebook ARMY EDITION at the tradeshows AW13.
TRAVELER'S notebook ARMY EDITION Passport Size has a leather cover branded with the British broad arrow military symbol. This symbol was used dring WWII to symbolise government ownership.
Available in stores from July 2013 onwards.
Alright Brigitta, you have secrets not telling me in advance, I too have something you may not know about TN, huh. It is something about "STAR" to be launched in March/April in HONG KONG! :)
Blake Mycoskie: Start Something That Matters I don't know why I couldn't finish this book, maybe it was the tone it was being written. Gotta get back to it someday, or not. (**)
Paco Underhill: Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping--Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond Read this book 10 years ago. To read this updated copy is to refresh my memory of how things were done back then and what's changed recently. Although at the beginning it is kind of boring and you may not agree with their research methods, but later in the chapters you will find hidden wisdoms. Just follow the author's logic and see what you can learn from it. (***)
Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs Love hearing the stories all over again, some of them especially what happened in the past few years are new to me. Most importantly it is a closer portrait of Steve than all other books about him. Isaacson recorded audios during his interview with Steve, check out 60 minutes special and you will hear Steve's own voice. RIP Steve. (****)
Richard Branson: Losing My Virginity Read it like a novel coz you'll find it attractive as a story to follow through. Learn from his character through stories! (****)
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