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https://instagram.com/p/BaT3JbRl_AG/

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A mix with book in some kinds.

"The moment I am opened, my pages are filled with life, illuminated by the pair of eyes that fall upon me and study my text, word for word, sentence by sentence and page after page. They follow my structure, absorb my story, belief or argument and engage in critical discussions with me."  -- The Inner Monologue of a Book, Rahel Zoller

A book has a spine, front cover and back cover, end paper, edges and corners, hinge etc, to make a book there are a lot of elements and structures to take care of and, play around with. I have learned these through the book art workshop in LCC which I went quite often on my first uni year, making hard-cover book, pop-up cards, boxes to hold a book etc. Having indulged in reading since a young age and, this workshop becomes a new way to dismantle the complex and essence of a book.

If you have heard about the story of "people in London always holding a book in the tube", then, unsurprisingly, based on that story, there are indeed a lot of bookstores in London, spanning from music(like vinly), film, contemporary art, photography, etc. Although one of the truth behind the story is some of the major tube lines in London does not have internet signals, this reading phenomenon is often to see. 

Among the books I have seen and read, I had a favour for independent published books. Just because generally there are more diversity on content and appearance in the physical medium, which contains various voices of individuals compared to commercial published ones. But overall, after the workshop and having finished a couple of book for university project, the process of making a book contains a lot of time and effort behind that I turn to genuinely respect.

I am not going to judge how the digital world has changed on book publishing and how people access information and knowledge through digital devices , but rather, I am here to unveil some of the independent publishers and bookstores around London to share:).

Kiosk

"Kiosk is a London based independent publisher with a focus on self-published zines & artist books from young creatives. It is a platform designed to give a voice to emerging artists, illustrators, designers by promoting their work and collaborating with them to produce publications."

http://k-i-o-s-k.com/

Hoxton Mini Press

"An indie publisher from East London making collectable photography books. "

https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/

This one Dalston in the 80s I saw at Broadway Market is already in my wishlist.

Colophon Foundry

Colophon is a type foundry but they also publish books about typography.

MagCulture

"The magCulture shop opened in Clerkenwell, London in December 2015. The 400 square feet space celebrates the best magazines, with an ever-changing stock of over 400 titles from across the world."

270 St John St, Clerkenwell

Donlon bookstore

"London bookshop specialising in photography, music, counterculture, rare&hard to find books"

(Found this bookstore through Jonathan Liu, studying photography in LCC).

Collinge&Clark

"The shop has a medium-sized stock, ground-floor and basement, and specialises in Private Press books, Typography and the art of the book since William Morris."

(FYI: There are a lot of books and prints(!!) about typography and it seems many of them are private collection with some history from the owner. Apart from William Morris they also have some books about print patterns as well.)

If you have any bookstores or books in your mind would like to share, please do feel free to comment below:) I am gonna end this post with Eric Grill, the typography designer who creates Grill Sans typeface, what he cites from St. Benedict in the 6th century, "Good book-making, good living - that is to say not what you or I fancy, but what nature of books and the nature of life really demand." Hope this post can give you some resources to find books for your weekend pleasure.

See you soon :):)

Reference:

1. Zoller, R. (2012) The Inner Monologue of a Book. London: self-published book.

2. Grill, E. (1931) "The Book" in An essay on Typography. London, England : Penguin Books

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Films shoot at Edinburgh on year ago.

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My mom. 

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Monday chat with Yaejee.

Yaejee is the first Korean I met in London. She is from Seoul, currently studying graphic design and communication(second year) in Chelsea College of Art, a university famous for its fine-art oriented curriculum, which she is interested in and influenced her approach to graphic design.

I met her the first time near a pub with some dorm-mates close to the student hall we were staying. The pub was too crowded with students in the end Yaejee, me, Giulia(my Italian flatmate), and Daisy(a British dorm-mate living at the same floor with Yaejee), we four people had to sit on the last empty table outside the pub drinking. This actually made the conversation to start a bit easier as we got some Asian and European mixs on the table and I soon find out there are some similar topics me and her both are interested in which makes every time we catch up with each other there are always some interesting things to share.

This interview, maybe better to call it a chill catch up of recent uni life, movies and music, is edited based on a whatsapp call on last Monday, you know the Monday blue has to be taken away by doing something you enjoy:)

XY: Hello Yaejee, I know you have been studying Graphic Design Communication in Chelsea, so how is it going with uni and everything?

YJ: It's going ok just got lost of work to do. The first one month of this term is very busy, but now it’s getting ok, as this term we have got more time and freedom for the uni design projects we have to do.

XY: That’s so nice that you have so much freedom on creating artworks. I also have loads of work to do from LCC and I am still struggling with the design rationale with uni project, LCC seems like a bit more commercial-oriented so the design rationale is quite important for everything we do.

Do you still find the graphic design course in Chelsea is more fine-art oriented?

YJ: Yes I think so, because now when we work on our uni projects we have more freedom to finish it in various ways, by photography or filming,  where we can apply various graphic approach to the theme of the project and the methods we use can be more fine-art oriented. But I also find out that sometimes it’s very difficult to give the rationale to make it related to what you want to create for yourself only as well.

Now I am working on my uni project about loneliness, I am looking at the movie Her(acted by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlet Johansson). According to some news London is remarked as the lonelinesse city in the world, and people are always quite busy here.

XY: Exactly. The tube(in London) in the morning is just crazy and it’s so hot inside the tube(LOL).

But is Seoul also a very busy city?

YJ: I think it’s even worse than London. For example the tube, bus stops are always busy, the traffic jam is horrible. And people just look at their phone, they don't even talk to strangers most of the time. But in London everyone is just so chilled and you can just talk to strangers that you bum into in a cafe. I wasn't quite used to it at the beginning but now I kind of like these random conversations.

XY: I think loneliness would be a very good point to do a design project, as it’s about relationship with space and human, how people react to a space and how a space influences people. 

Do you often find lonely even though you have been in London for a year?

YJ: Quite a lot to be honest. Living on student hall the first year, I always got bumped into with different people in the common kitchen. But now I am living in a studio room with my own kitchen, so I don't even have to go out unless I have to go to sainsbury’s or tesco. 

But sometimes I am enjoying being alone as I have more time to treat myself with a movie, do some work or just simply listen to music.

XY: I also feel like sometimes it’s good to be living alone as you have more time for yourself focus on improving yourself. 

  XY: Do you still feel that you can fit in the environment of London well after one year? For me, on the first year I was trying hard to fit in the environment but now I am a bit chilled with that, as being a Chinese I found there are still some culture shocks thing whereas Chinese culture is different from UK and it’s just better to be who I am and react to people as being myself.

YJ: At the beginning, I didn't have many friends as it was a completely new environment for me. And soon I found that people here are generally quite individual and focus on spending time for themselves a lot. 

I used to go out with my friends and just chill out with them when I am in Korea, but after I came here since the time zone is different it’s quite difficult to catch up with my old friends in Korea. Sometimes I do feel lonely but I also got more time to focus on myself, to find out who I am and what kinds of works I am interested to do. I think in a way it also helps me a lot - being living and studying abroad alone. 

But when I came back to Korea this year I find out that I have to fit in the environment I used to live again as being in London for a period has changed some of my characters.

XY: It sounds kind of like a city could influence one’s personalities, and you became a better person to try to fit in the previous environment that you used to stay, like a place or city can really changed some part of your personalities. I think it could be a very good point to make an art or design project!

YJ: Yes true, and now I am aiming to go to France as soon as I graduate, because of the movies, the french tone, and the fashion brands, they all are just very attractive to me. 

XY: Someone can’t wait to see her boyfriend;P (YJ’s boyfriend is studying in Paris now and she went to Paris a couple times last year). Why are you so interested into Paris?

YJ: Paris just makes me feel very familiar, even more than London. I feel people there are quite chilled, and it seems like they don't work that much?(lol) I just very much like their outdoor cafe, just so chilled to relax and smoke. And people are a bit rough for me - like sometimes people just yelling on the street, they don't try to hide their emotions and just try to say what they think.

XY: Sounds like French people quite like to comment.

XY: Can you recommend your recent playlists at last?

YJ: These days I am listening to Lo-fi hip hop, the melody is slow and relaxing, which is quite helpful for studying like writing essay, and really calms me down.

Here is Yaejee's instagram @parkyaejee and website. All credits of images and artworks in the post belong to Yaejee.

Thank you for watching:) And See you soon.

XY

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Mom's bride suit.

It wasn't until one of my tutor at uni has mentioned In The Mood for Love by Wong Kar Wai in the class of fashion culture then I had the idea to write about my mom.

My mom was born in south China, a small town in a city called Foshan 46 years ago. Since there were some relatives from my grandparent living in HongKong, my mom was able to get some new clothes from time to time since a young age from the relatives. As the only girl in the family(my mom has two younger brother), she was obviously became one of the lucky birds who are able to wear various outfits among others. When I was younger, I thought it was a normal thing that Chinese brides wear as how my mom dresses on their wedding. However, having been attending to many other people's wedding since I grow up, I noticed that generally Chinese brides wear either red cheongsam or white wedding dress on the ceremony, and my mom was actually very fashion at that time that she choose to wear a red blazer for the important moment of her life!

I was chatting with mom this morning when she was driving me to buy some grocery, "Mummy, Who is your favourite actress or singer in the 90s?" “Mui Yim-fong(Anita Mui)” "Wow, really? but why? I thought you are gonna say someone else like Faye Wong". Mom was immediately immersed in her 90s youth memory, "Cause I really like her dancing and how she changes her look on the stage, especially she has a very very charming voice." "Have you ever been to her concert then?" "No no, it was way too expensive to afford a concert ticket at that time, so I only watch her performance through TV." 

I was, actually very surprised on her answer, "On TV??? I thought there were only radios where you can only listen to music through!" Mom laughed, "That's the 80s thing when people listen to radios for music and write down the lyrics on a paper, on 90s there were already TVs in most of people's house in South China." "Aha, I see. But why did you choose to wear the red blazer for your wedding then?" "It was quite popular to wear blazers at that time, to be honest I still think blazer is a very smart outfit for women even nowadays."

And yes, the red suit in the movie, just somehow reminded me my mom's red wedding suit when I watch it. I personally am not a movie enthusiast, but the appeal of Maggie Chung in a red suit in the movie, has led me to watch other movies around 90s and found some images of actress on that period at their blooming age I rarely have seen. The beauty of them that comes from within, the dress and style before the  millennium year, becomes one of the visual preciousness in my instagram-filled world. 

There are two more singer and actor, which I personally quite like when I was looking out at Anita Mui.

PS: All the images above except my mom's photos are from internet.

Ending this post with my mom's another bride dress in white.

Love you mom xx

And Merry Christmas to everyone.

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Edinburgh Fragments.

Few weeks ago I developed the films I took in Edinburgh one year ago while I was traveling alone in Scotland. Being a student studying in London, it can't be too normal to travel and explore UK from time to time. Lazy as me, I tend to travel alone and not to make much plans beforehand, which I actually found a good way to explore a city randomly by myself.

I still remember, even though it's alreay one year gone, how the architectures in Edingburgh has amazed me the first glance I came out of the train station. Looking at all the mid-century buildings with a familiar scene as in Harry Porter, has made me feel like finally I am here in England, a sense I hardly had in London. To be frank, it took me several hours to get used to the Scottish English when I was at Mcdonald or Gregg ordering for food, embarrassedly asking the staff to repeat their words a few times to make the order. Apart from that, I was quite surprised to see that Scottish people are much relaxed than people in London, just like the Scottish actor James McAvoy who I favour a lot and never hides his Scottish accent and make jokes whenever he was in a TV show being himself, which in a way has adds up my fondness to the city.

On the first night at hostel, I met Aigerim, also a backpacker from Kazakhstan traveling alone in Edinburgh and staying in a lower bunk in the same room with me. She was very kind to recommend me a lot of good places to visit in Edinburgh, although we had some misunderstanding at the beginning that I thought she is a Korean because of her Asian looking. But to my surprise, she is also a big friend of Korea Drama, which opens a big conversation between us for the rest of the day. The next day there is another Korean girl take another bunk, and I used the same trick to her talking in the same topics for hours.... After the trip in Edinburgh, one of my biggest impression apart from the city is(if you know K-drama well), that Korea Drama is definitely a good topic to start a conversation with any Asian-looking people when you travel around UK.

Anyway, it was always a great fun for me to meet different people around the world and just do some random chatting. Though there are some disadvantages when travelling alone for example no airbnbs to share with friends while travelling(meaning spending the same money on accommodation with a better accommodation in exchange), difficult to find someone to help shoot some nice photos for yourself, less chance to share and try more foods with more affordable price, etc. But I think the most important thing about travel is to make the overall experience and memories become part of you, and being able to travel alone has gave me full freedom to do self-exploration for any destinations. 

Lastly wrapping up this post with a vibe shoot at Calton Hill.

Hope you enjoy the post and will like Edinburgh as well:)

XY

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Brigitte Lin

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Faye Wong singing a concert with no pants and generally just not giving a fuck, because she is AMAZING.

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Late September trip.

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Lemaire AW17

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Molly Goddard

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Somewhere between singapour and cdg,sept ‘17

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Deng. 等