Recently I have been doing some more digital paintings of zen gardens, inspired by the aesthetic sense of "yūgen": the profound, mysterious beauty that is sensed rather than seen, and that suggests depths of experience beyond human understanding. I draw these free-hand on an Ipad with the Procreate app. I will add them to the "Drawings" section of my website soon. Occasionally I like to browse through some of the books that I have lying around my studio for inspiration. A couple of years ago I found a short collection of essays "Three Japanese Buddhist Monks" from Penguin Books' series "Great Ideas" in a bookstore. On one page, Yoshida Kenkō (c.1283-c.1352) offers some insightful thoughts about house design which are in my opinion still valid to this day: I was also reminded of this amusing story about the priest Jōshin, also told by Kenkō. I have great respect for strong personalities, people that dare to create their own meaning in the world and do what they want. Personally I have a

Details are one of my favourite things about architectural design. It is always fun to analyse how a given building or constructed landscape is actually put together and functions. For this reason I have always been a big fan of the "Detail in Contemporary..." series of books from Laurence King Publishing. These books present a selection of details from a variety of projects at different scales from across the world, and I own several of them (including "Detail in Contemporary Timber Architecture" and "Detail in Contemporary Landscape Architecture"). Some of the older editions used to include a CD-rom with dwg-files of all the details as well! Unfortunately many of the newer editions no longer offer this. "Detail in Contemporary Residential Architecture 2" presents a selection of details from mostly small-scale residential projects, especially private houses from places as varied as Croatia, Australia and Japan. The projects are organised according to their primary material: wood, bric

Recently I (finally) got my hands on the wonderful art book «The Art of Spirited Away». "Spirited Away" is one of my favourite movies, released in 2001 under the direction of Hayao Miyazaki (one of my favourite people) and produced by Studio Ghibli. The book is a collection of concept sketches, character designs and background art from the film. I find it endlessly interesting and inspiring to get a glimpse of the creative process behind films like this. Only a small fraction of all of the work that went into it is visible in the final film, and behind every scene, character and event there lies an astonishing amount of pure creativity. There is something about the story in this film that is simultaneously both frightening and comforting. Its environments have occupied space in my mind since I first saw the film when I was 11 years old in 2001, especially the bath house. What an amazing space to dream about as a child! It took me quite a long time afterwards to find my personal interes

I read a lot of books, and this year was no different. I try to read at least 10 pages of something every day, because I find that reading offers me an endless source of new ideas and impulses. It has always been non-negotiable for me to read for at least 15 minutes first thing in the morning, and at least 15 minutes before bed at night. A day where this for some reason does not happen feels like a weird day. Here are the best books that I found and read this year, in no particular order. 1) The Wild Palms - William Faulkner (1939) I came across this book when I noticed the main character reading it in the film "Perfect Days" (2023). I cannot describe it as anything other than a beautiful story about idealism, crime and the harsh realities of life. There is a wonderful contrast between two stories that intertwine. As tends to happen, I read this book while myself experiencing some stark contrasts between the pursuit of passion and the mundane expectations of modern life. The stories of

Coccia, Emanuele. (2024). Philosophy of the Home - Domestic Space and Happiness. Penguin Books. 191 s. First published in Italian as Filosofia della casa. Lo spazio domestico e la felicità (2021). Sketches of every building that I personally have lived in: various places in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Canada. What is a home? What does it mean to feel at home? These are questions which have always deeply interested me, not least because they are inseparable from a further discussion about how we want to live. They constitute the main theme of “Philosophy of the Home – Domestic Space and Happiness”, where philosopher Emanuele Coccia explores the home as an ontological and phenomenological concept and discusses how the home becomes a physical and psychological part of life. Immediately the title reminds me of the book “The Architecture of Happiness”, where Alain de Botton (2006) attempts to find connections between our physical surroundings and a sense of well-being. De Botton claims in t

Juniper, Andrew. (2003). Wabi sabi - The Japanese art of impermanence. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing. This short book by Andrew Juniper offers fantastic and concise insight into Japanese aesthetics, zen philosophy and the concept of wabi sabi. The book offers a history of the concept, demonstrates how it is indelible from Japanese culture as a whole, and describes how wabi sabi has both influenced art through the ages and found expression in design. Juniper gives an excellent description of wabi sabi (page 1): «Wabi sabi embodies the Zen nihilist cosmic view and seeks beauty in the imperfections found as all things, in a constant state of flux, evolve from nothing and devolve back to nothing. Within this perpetual movement nature leaves arbitrary tracks for us to contemplate, and it is these random flaws and irregularities that offer a model for the modest and humble wabi sabi expression of beauty. Rooted firmly in Zen thought, wabi sabi art uses the evanescence of life to convey the sense