Author: Dorothy Lam

Canopy of cherry blossoms sweeps Sydney for two weeks every August

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

Miss Japan, well you can indulge in the art of flower viewing or known as “hanami” in the Sydney Cherry blossom festival that was held from Friday August 18th 2017 to Sunday August 27th 2017. At the Auburn botanic gardens, Sydneysiders can walk under a canopy of pink blossoms in the Japanese Garden. A famous season in Japan, no wonder it is an annual event crowded with tourists and local Sydney people.

Over the two weekends during the festival, both contemporary and traditional Japanese culture come together through music and performance with additions including movies and a silent disco. Food is available as well where a village is set up hosting several food trucks and restaurants serving everything from Masyua to Katsu curry and Japanese hot dogs or a bento box even. There’s origami workshops provided for both children and you can add it to the community display or take it home. With many activities to enjoy, it’s better to arrive early to get a spot. If you didn’t get to attend, there’s always next year!

In search of consistency in every cup of coffee…(Part 1)

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

Have you ever popped into a café and judged how good your coffee will taste by the appearance and action of your barista? You might be standing there, subconsciously starring at what they’re doing and have statements and questions in your head – ‘I don’t know them…ummm…do they know what they’re doing?’ ‘This is taking forever…I need to get to work…Is he/she burning my milk?’ ‘Why is the guy behind me getting his coffee first?’

A good barista will take care of every factor that will affect the beverage served. In the coffee industry, equipment has been invented to keep certain factors consistent to minimize the most inconsistent variable during a coffee making process – the ‘human’ factor.|More cafés are now using automatic grinders and use of scale to assist barista to dose coffee consistently and automatic tamper to ensure even distribution and consistent weight is put in every single time. Some of us will be scared as we feel like technology is replacing the ‘authentic’ process of making coffee. If a robot can make you a perfect espresso every single time, then where will this leave baristas?

Vivid Lights

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

The long anticipated event of the year is back, and it’s bigger than ever. Vivid Sydney is annual event that showcases diverse range light installations all around Sydney. From Chatswood to Circular Quay and Taronga Zoo to The Rocks, Sydney is lit up in bright and vibrant colours between 27th May- 18 June.

 

With more than 50 types of installations planted across Sydney, these are just few of the installations we visited.

Origami meets architecture

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

Origami meets architecture

Origami is the art of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. In Japanese ‘ori’ means ‘folding’ and ‘kami’ means paper.

The goal of this interesting concept is to transform a flat sheet square into a finished sculpture through various folding and sculpting techniques.

 

When you put origami and architecture, what kind of visual eye candy will you see?

Origami isn’t as easy as you think – there’s geometric and mathematical qualities involved to produce the final product. By using this ancient Japanese art and exploding these paper structures into life- sized scale, interesting shapes and forms have been produced over the years.

 

The angular, jagged and sharp points protruding out of the building is sometimes seen as unwelcoming and dangerous – but now it has become a trend in contemporary architecture. Designs ranging from hotels, offices and halls have been produced by the influence of this ancient Japanese art form.

 

 

Inspirations from a Japanese lifestyle photographer

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

Recently I have been inspired by a Japanese lifestyle/ photography Instagram blogger called @holon_ .

I stumbled across his feed randomly when I was just scrolling down my discover page.

The reason why I was so intrigued by his page was his composition, colours, minimal objects and lighting that were used in his photos. 90% of his photos feature simple daily household objects in his home taken in different angles. Another reason why I enjoy scrolling through his photos is because of the clean, minimal vibe it portrays and also, this is what I imagine my ‘dream house’ to be. His house consists of simple wood material finishes and uses a lot of white- which I love.

 

You can check out his feed on @holon_

Do you need a travel companion or not?

Posted on by Dorothy Lam

Need a travel companion or not?

Have you ever wanted to check out exotic places, but was too chicken to go out to explore yourself? Yes- that was me. But as I grew up, I reckon you have to travel to a foreign country by yourself at least once in your life. You may ask why – even I would question the idea. I know for extroverts it’s quite hard as they constantly need a companion with them to explore new things, but I think for me – I quite like the idea.

 

Do you have the guts to travel to foreign country on your own?

 

The idea of traveling solo is a concept that I haven’t turned into reality but it’s always in the back of my head. “The fear is real” is a quote my friends and I always use, but when I ponder on it more, if you don’t go out of your comfort zone, you’ll never learn, you’ll never escape your fears and you’ll never know how to overcome risks. I think you’ll also get to enjoy freedom – no boundaries and no burdens of doing things you don’t like and you also have the control of time. Not only the time factor but you’ll learn how to be independent, spend quality time on your own and definitely uncover something new about yourself.

 

What do you think? Maybe it’s a time for all of us to take that risk and see what’s out there.