Living by our senses

The quality that we call beauty… must always grow from the realities of life.
-Jun’ichiro Tanizaki

I design my days… seek moments… cultivate experiences. I tend to my surroundings. The bowls I eat from matter. The pots and pans I cook in inspire me. I indulge in fresh floral arrangements. I can dwell indefinitely in the refined comfort of a well considered home.

Let’s live well. Let’s develop a rich daily life by paying attention to small but essential matters, with our eyes and senses wide open.

-Prairie

New Year, Fresh Start

01.01.12

We cannot ring in the new year without considering the opportunity for new beginnings.

Cultivated Days was started in earnest to consider the small but essential matters – to set fingertips to keyboard and tap out some insight into the choreography of daily living.

It’s been quiet here for a while now. But not for want of dedication or inspiration.

Rather an idea is brewing… A big, overwhelming, exciting idea.

To call this a blog is to adhere it to an ill-fitting format. And yet it has been formed and presented in said style. We’re undergoing renovations to address the error.

Cultivated Days isn’t small talk. It’s a conversation. We’ll be back – maybe not so often, but with a lot more to say.

So please stick with us. Stay tuned. And in the meantime a very Happy New Year to all.

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Back in 2007 H showed at Bespoke Gallery in NYC. Showing dinnerware in a Chelsea art gallery was a bit of a leap and for the opening reception a little talk was staged between H and the Japanese food writer Harris Salat. It was to be educational, to talk about the marriage of art and craft in Japan, about the culturally ingrained, regular use of hand made pottery at the table.

Truth be told, I don’t remember many details of the talk. But I do remember that towards the beginning, as a way to set the scene, Harris referred to Kyushu (the southern part of the country where we live) as the Kentucky of Japan. Now having never been to Kentucky I don’t completely understand the implications of such a comment, but the comment has always lingered.

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Your hands move on their own

10.17.11

There is satisfaction when you no longer refer to a recipe, when you can make something on the fly, even in the midst of a busy day, because you know the steps pat. Your mind is free to work on other problems as your hands move on their own. I’ve gotten to this place with granola.

Now maybe granola isn’t exactly boast-worthy. It’s not fancy. It isn’t complicated. But if granola is one thing, it’s noble. Continue Reading »

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Left to remember

10.09.11

The world out there is slowly shutting down. Growth has slowed to creeping. The grill is looking wind swept and forlorn under dried leaves and pine needles. It’s turning time to head inside, bundle up and settle in.

Before we flee like migratory birds west across the continent, and further still across the Pacific to the other side of our life, in Japan, we are drinking in the last moments of 2011 in Maine. October is glorious with the rain gone, the sun out, and pockets of color here and there. Continue Reading »

Cultivated Days

New Year, Fresh Start

Southern Comfort

Your hands move on their own

Left to remember

Common Threads