JAPAN! Land of Inspiration...

Hello! It's been awhile since I posted here because my family and I were fortunate enough to travel to Japan for an extended summer vacation and I just got back. Japan is inspiring, wacky, efficient, spotless, sparkling, colourful, calm, ancient, cutting-edge modern, delicious, solemn, thought-provoking, mysterious...in a word, MARVELOUS! I have travelled quite a bit over the years, and I have never been anywhere quite like it. The food is outstanding, the people are wonderful, travel is easy (once you get the hang of it!), the design and art are utterly fabulous. It gave me all kinds of design inspiration: from flea markets full of fabulous "junk", antiques and kitsch; food markets filled with all kinds of seafood, grilled things, perfect fruits, beautiful sweets; temples, gorgeous gardens and incredible architecture everywhere; and shops, selling wares that they have been making for generations or fabulous modern design I haven't really seen anywhere else.
I am eager to start designing new patterns inspired by this amazing country! Here is just a sampling of the hundreds of photos I took, in no particular order (check out all that wonderful surface pattern design inspiration!)...If you want to see more of my Japan photos, I invite you to check out my Instagram feed!