We were gobsmacked as we walked up to the NGV on Wednesday our hearts always skip a beat at the waterwall, but this time it we were literally stopped in our tracks. We were confronted with a dreamy melting landscape of white city like a shimmering 3D chinese papercut and when we got inside the view was just as lovely. There they all were, peeps of all shapes and sizes busily building.
We were excited about the prospect of creating our own HML inclusion but undecided on our final design so decided to head straight for the members lounge and engage in some sketching over a cuppa. We were a little weirded out by the fact that everyone was sticking to buildings, we thought there might be some big cars, dumptrucks, names, at least one 'rude bit' and giant godzilla like creatures preparing to smash up the lego landscape like a b-grade movie, but no... all buildings, really beautiful willowy buildings, but still ALL buildings.
Anyway as you'd expect we ended up spending more time chatting than planning and by the time we emerged from the members cocoon the whole thing was full of kids and clearly we were no longer a chance... probably lucky really, after all the free caffeine and sugary biscuits we'd consumed who knows what kind of chaos we may have unleashed...
As far as crafty items in Tokyo the list is almost endless: genius ceramics, fabrics to die for, and all manner of bamboo, wood and laquered must haves... therefore we are both currently kicking ourselves that HML's 'Big In Japan' tour didn't think through the luggage equation before departure. As everyone knows taking nothing but the barest of essentials in a very large suitcase maximises returning goodie potential, especially given that we are peasants and herded into cattle class with its paltry baggage allowance. As self described compulsive "overpackers" it is going to be hard to try and find space for all the potential purchases . 
We'll just need to brush up on our kanji deciphering, so we can make sense of the extensive instructions... andto try and remember to breathe as we are choked with gingham studio envy. 
We know we usually feature the work inside the art gallery on a Monday, but Beck was so taken with this particular gallery space, that we decided the hell with it, why not feature the gallery itself as the artwork on show. The gallery is part of an entire precint designed by Japans best known living architect, Tadao Ando that features residential apartments, retail outlets, a cafe and nursery and a soon to be completed super kindergarten. We think it's tops and are really big fans. The fact that he is entirely self taught in architecture, has won nearly every architecture and culture award in the world, his favourite architect is Mies van der Rohe, (just like our own in house architect) and that 'ando street' was literally around the corner from where she was staying was just gravy. Given that he has also had some very high profile clients like Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, the Pulitzer Foundation and Giorgio Armani, and has just finished the Issey Miyake museum we wonder if he'd be up for designing a new HML headquarters? 
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