Just over a week after Eli left (see previous blog posts for details on those adventures if you haven’t done so already), Sammy and I caught a Shinkansen to Nagoya in Aichi prefecture. It was our first time in Aichi, despite one of our closest friends living there, so we were super excited to see her in her natural habitat so to speak. She met us at the train station and took us up to a viewpoint right away to show us Nagoya from above. (Bonus points to her for finding a spot where I could not only see the castle illuminated at night, but also the Shinkansen and the local train tracks!) We wanted to stay and enjoy the view for a bit, but unfortunately a real-life romantic tragedy was happening to the right of us and it was beginning to get awkward. From what we could tell, the break up was very intense, and we felt we had to give them some space. We’d come back another time (although spoiler alert, we didn’t get a chance this trip so will have to just go back next time we’re in Nagoya.)
Our friend had recently moved into her first unfurnished place of her own, so I was particularly enjoying seeing how excited she was being able to pick out the things in her flat. Being able to decorate the place with your own touches here and there is so important to make a place feel like your own, so I was just super happy our friend now got to do that. Even before we had arrived, because we didn’t see any pictures beforehand, I was creating an idea in my head. I believed the apartment was going to be cute, uncluttered but with a couple of little trinkets that were either going to have nice flowers on or cats. On arrival, the place didn’t disappoint. In fact it exceeded all expectations. Our friend is really stylish, so when we saw the beautiful curtains and things she’d chosen it wasn’t a huge surprise that they looked so good in the space, but still it made me excited to see. The place was perfect for her, and I was so happy to see her thriving there.
We had a packed schedule while we were in the area, taking day trips as well as exploring Nagoya, because we wanted this to feel like a holiday for our friend too. Of course though, before going anywhere else, we had to see the city our friend had loved so much she’d moved across the world to live there. On our little tour around the city, we got to have some shopping time, shrine time, park time, little coffee and food time as well as something a bit special and different. When Sammy and I were in Fukuoka last year, our other friend who we were visiting at the time had the amazing idea of making our own souvenirs of the trip. It gave us something unique from the area as well as a great memory together. It was so good, we made some little side plates, three each, that we use every day, and every time we use them we think of our friend and the trip. In Nagoya, we wanted to do the same, so our friend booked us a painting class at Noritake. Noritake is a name that most Japanese people will know, as they are one of the most famous dinnerware creators in Japan (think of it a bit like the Royal Doultan of Japan I guess). We had a choice whether we wanted to paint a mug or a plate, we all picked plates because we felt we’d use them more, then we got right to it.
I was the only one out of all of us that I had thought about my design beforehand. I did this because, in Fukuoka, I really struggled with the pressure of having to be creative on the spot, with no prior thought. This time I wanted to be more prepared. Growing up, I was introduced to painting by my great grandad Piper and my Uncle Robert. Grand Piper painted landscapes, whereas Rob was always enticed by sailing boats. Often, I draw landscapes these days, using the basic techniques my grandad taught me, but I had actually never painted a sailboat in my life. I decided this plate was going to change that. After deciding the plate was going to be a homage to my Uncle, I soon decided I wanted it to have symbols on it that represented my Uncle James too. Whenever something happens in my life, I always imagine them both together, laughing at my mistakes and celebrating my achievements. There was no one brother without the other, and I wanted to somehow include that on the plate. In my initial sketches, I planned for the sails on my boat to be purple, the colour that represented James. I knew my family and his friends would get it and, most importantly, it made me think of him. That was the goal, to have a daily reminder that they are with me in spirit, but to really achieve this, I had to include something on the plate that represented me. As all my friends know, I am obsessed with water. I always have been. The ocean calls me no matter where I am and the colours make me feel at peace. Put those colours and beautiful shapes of waves with the sailboat, and suddenly I had a simple design that included me, James and Rob together. It felt perfect.
I had sketched a couple of other ideas too and I brought them all with me to the Noritake museum in a little booklet, because although I was happy with my boat design, I wanted options on the day in case the paints weren’t as expected or the plates weren’t big enough or whatever. I didn’t end up using them, but when I found out our friend and Sammy hadn’t given their designs a single thought, I was glad they were there to give us all ideas of what we might want (or in some cases, what we really didn’t want). Our friend ended up liking the repetitive patterns of a Fuji design I made, and took that in her own direction to create the beautiful piece she did, whereas Sammy did something completely different from anything I’d drawn. He became so focused; not telling us at any point his ideas. I could see it swirling in his brain as he set to painting his plate. In all those art classes we sat together in at school, I never saw this level of concentration on his face ever. His hyper focused state worked its magic and the Wisteria masterpiece he created was genuinely stunning. Even the staff at the museum commented how beautiful it was, when we all went to take our plates to the station where they dry and get prepped to be glazed or whatever. In the end, I ended up adding to my design, after finding out we could also paint on the underside of our plates. While we were painting, I explained to our friend about the symbolism of my design. Our friend was moved and mentioned something to do with the moon spirit in Avatar the Last Airbender (a TV show the three of us adore so much and have watched many times over together). Her words sparked something in me. Turning the plate over I began to paint two fish swimming in a circle, each one in my Uncles’ favourite colours: an orange one for Robert and a purple one for James. After adding a few final touches, I really felt the plate was complete. I will put pictures of all three of our plates below so you can see our masterpieces. Hope you like them!
For the rest of our trip we ended up visiting three more prefectures: Shiga, Mie and Gifu. I will write a little blog about each of them in turn. It was a fabulous holiday and I am so grateful to our friend for hosting us. Without her, it would not have been possible, nor even half as much fun!
