korea, part 2: finn juhl

what do scandinavia and korea have in common?

apparently, their love for finn juhl, a danish architect and one of the leading figures in the inception of the mid-century scandinavian furnitures.

during one of our quests to scrounge for a meal that didn't consist of pig or cow meat (koreans love their meat products), emily and i stumbled across a wonderful art gallery that was currently showcasing the works of finn juhl. while we'd never heard of finn juhl before, we had always been obsessed with scandinavian designs (thank youuuu, ikea and cb2).

i don't know about emily, but i could have stayed in the gallery forever. if they didn't have curators stationed in every room, i probably would have caressed and drooled on every piece of furniture in the building.

but who can blame me when faced with such delectable pieces of art?

oh, and on a sidenote: we ended up at a restaurant across the alley. holy cow, who knew vegan buddhist temple food could be so scrumptious... and so pricey? pictures from that meal to come.

korea, part 1: street art

it's been several months since we've posted anything, and for that we should be flogged. however, we wish to beg for forgiveness by proffering pictures and anecdotes from the few weeks we spent in korea. 

emily and i are of korean descent, and we decided that instead of going to iceland as we'd originally planned, we'd spend a few weeks traveling around the motherland for relaxation and artistic inspiration. as for the relaxation, there was none; we basically traveled nonstop all over the country with little to no sleep (too often with a gnarly hangover). however, there were tons and tons of inspiration to be had. if there is any country that feeds off and thrives on art, it's korea.

everywhere we went, walls were scrawled on and brushed at with drawings, both crude and intricate. rather than considered to be defacement, graffiti seemed to be celebrated and appreciated. perhaps it's for that exact reason that we didn't see any wall art that didn't have emily scrambling for her sketchbook.

a few examples:

and a small contribution emily left at a random restaurant:

don't fear that emily's become a wretched human being with a penchant for illegally scribbling on walls. the restaurant provided the pens and markers with which its patrons could leave their mark.