Craftsmanship

I'm so impressed by these handmade spoons and tea canisters!

Why not enjoy the beauty of arts and crafts everyday?

Just to be clear: this is not a sponsored post.

I just want to let you know where I got them in case you're interested.

∙ The spalted beech wooden spoon is made by Patrizia.

∙ The black urushi spoon is made by wood artisan Tomii Takashi.

∙ The tea canisters from Karmi series are made in Yamanaka and designed by THINGS

(Satoshi Yasushima & Tomoko Honda). I bought them from KotoTea shop at Etsy.

Be aware you might have to pay considerable taxes to Customs!

Mortally Wounded

The kenderman spotted this detailed wood carving at the brocante market in Tongeren.

We like it a lot so we did some research on the internet.
"Helvetiorum Fidei ac Virtuti" = To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss

In case you're interested, you can find more information here.

Beregoed

This bottle stopper is "beregoed".
"Bear good" translated from Dutch literally :)

Meaning something like "really good".
This was love at first sight!
Being only 6 cm high it proves the craftmanship of the carver.
I bought these lovely dancing bears at a flea market for 4 euros.

Archive II

Mythological Ainu bear.

You can see my earlier post about this bear here and,
something completely diffirent, a post about a polar bear here.

Sunny Bear

Wishing you a nice and sunny weekend!

The Bear

What do you think of our latest Ebay find?

It's probably Japanese although it was sold as a Schwarzwalder (German) carving.
I think this must be an Ainu bear from Hokkaido.
The bear is carrying a big skewered fish on a wooden branch.
The Ainu considered the bear the mythological hero that taught them to fish, hunt, weave and so on.

I was searching for a Ainu bear for a while because I think the quality of the Ainu carving is excellent!
Kitka triggered me. Kitka is one of my favourite blogs and they have an online shop called Mjölk.
Just like Juli and John, I love Scandinavian and Japanese design.

Our bear isn't marked, has no signs what so ever.

One minor detail is the awkward scent of the wood.

Hopefully this smell will dissappear eventually.