Forté #20

A few things that have inspired me lately and what I've been working on..

Hey, did anyone else feel like January disappeared so quickly? We’re a few days into February and this will be the first February 29th we’ve seen in a little while! Last week on Substack I reflected on my time spent living in Tokyo and shared a couple of videos I made to reminisce on life in Japan using memories that were not my own. Please check out the post here if you haven’t already.

And now here's another fortnightly collection of things that have caught my attention:

🍃 Rakesprogress magazine’s website is a feast for the eyes—full of gorgeous imagery from their equally beautiful magazine issues. I also love their Ikebana a Day page where they celebrate the Japanese art of flower arranging in glorious ways. Here’s a great Ikebana primer on Artsy.

🍃 This moving video about being a craftsman and the philosophy behind it. British film-maker Ben Spilling follows Maine-based furniture maker Peter Korn as he discusses how to live a fulfilling life. His whole ethos is to live a passionate and rewarding life which I can’t help but find deeply inspiring.

🍃 This great article on creativity written by

Tuğba

wherein she writes that the seemingly innocent act of using social media to ‘treat’ ourselves during a break whilst working is doing nothing more than filling our minds with unnecessary mental clutter. I’ve thought about this thought a lot recently.

🍃 Okay, so here is a website that I wish I’d made myself. Tree.fm is a website that lets you tune into sound recordings of forests from around the world and of course you already know it’s going to be absolutely gorgeous. Get lost on here for an hour or so.

🍃 And because sometimes we might need one, here’s a list of reasons to write someone a letter.

Thank you for being here, let me know what’s inspiring you recently. Hitting subscribe is always welcome and please do share with someone who might enjoy. If you'd like to support this newsletter please buy one of my albums over on Bandcamp, or consider becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack.

SJF