Tuesday 29 June 2010

E s s e n c e

When we like something, to like is like an attraction that we feel for the thing we like. That attraction is because the thing has some element or something that we can recognize as part of the whole kind of things we like. But all that whole kind of diverse things have something in particular that is one essence. That essence is our style. Our style is the way we visually represent our way of being. So when we find something we like, it is like to find ourselves represented, reflected in that thing. There is a correlation between the thing and us.  Heidegger said that we only really like what is previously given from itself (from its essence), wishing us in our essence, approaching our essence and we let the thing we like to come to us (like in a feedback),and what we like is pulling us, guiding us to its essence. Heidegger uses the visual metaphor of what is "looking to us": we only see (the essence) what is already looking to us (to our essence) and we see it because it sees us.
According to Heidegger, to like is to form a relationship with our essence to the essence of what we like.

Friday 25 June 2010

S T Y L E



Dictionary: Mode, manner, way of behavior. Practice, perform. Set of characteristics that make up the character of the work.

The characteristics are the permanent and essential aspects of the visual that give a particular character to the notebooks, for example, the use of natural materials, the look of aged books, the colors I am used to using, the kind of papers like envelopes, paper bags, wrinkled papers, torn edges, typewritten and handwritten texts, bold stitched patterns, smooth and polished surfaces and any other characteristics that I could always add. These are the characteristics of my notebooks that make them different from others, because of the way I apply these characteristics. The set of characteristics plus the properties of natural materials (materiality, qualities, exterior surface or apparency) make a unity, a whole. That unity with its characteristics and properties is the style, the character of my crafts. The unity of the style can express itself in a multiplicity of possible interrelations between the properties of materials and the way of working. That unity is the same in every part and every one of my notebooks, this way every notebook I make can be different from each other inside the same style. The unity of the style is its essence and it behaves as a collection, a constellation made of properties and characteristics.  The style is the order, the way of showing that constellation. The style is that constellation. The constellation is the essence. The style is the essence.

Thursday 10 June 2010

Properties As My References.


I’m starting this post as series of short posts based on small notes I take while working with my crafts. So this post is to be continued.

4454379198_2cfd34919f When I'm making my crafts, I always have some references in mind that influence and give me ideas. These references are mostly objects I see. Also, when someone ask 'What inspires you?', has the preconception of that you are inspired by some kind of figurative thing, because if you are making something like a simple notebook, you may be inspired by some object or figurative image, and that is true many times, but not always. In my case, the objects or figurative images that inspire me are, for instance, aged books with broken covers and yellowish pages that I often find in antique stores. Then, when I think, for example, about these books at the moment of trying to get new ideas for making the next notebook, I'm remembering these books and the way I saw them. This means that I'm using my visual memory and that the inspiration for my work is quite based on my visual perception. I have a big inventory of images in my memory where I take new ideas from. Visually and figuratively.

But there is something else apart or together with the visual perception of the inspiring objects and their images in my memory. It is something inherent in the objects or more precisely, inherent in the material of the objects. It is the natural properties of the materials, their essential qualities, and that is where I find their beauty and inspiration.
I find these natural properties only in natural materials, of course, like the kind of papers I use for my notebooks, wood, leather, linen… It means that I'm not only inspired by old broken books.
 
There is a strong attraction I feel for these qualities, they inspire me and that is what gives me pleasure in working with crafts.
The pleasure or sensations of the properties is something that I'm always trying to analyze while working with some notebook or other crafts. More precisely, what I try to analyze is the relationship between my internal sensations with the perception of the natural properties of the materials that are external to me. It was because of that relationship that I started making notebooks. I wanted a notebook that was in complete relation between its properties and qualities and my mind.
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