Earth Garden Tokyo 2010

The weekend of the 23rd and 24th saw Earth Garden Tokyo being held in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park.

Yoyogi Park (pictured below) is one of the largest parks in Tokyo located adjacent to Harajuku Station and Meiji Shrine in Shibuya. Earth Garden (link in Japanese only) is held here three times during the course of the year, Spring, Summer and Autumn. Earth Garden Winter is held in a large building in another part of the city. There are many other weekend festivals held within the park making it a popular place to hang out during the Summer months.

Before coming to the UK for the festival season of 2009, Yoyogi Park was a firm favourite of ours. This year AP happy zakka life (the predecessor to Sorazora) was again there. The festival season in Japan lasts about two months longer than that of the UK with festivals happily continuing through October.

The products found at the AP stall are essentially the same as Sorazora, although there are slight differences that reflect the differences in taste between the Japanese and Brits.

The photo below shows a happy customer wearing a Sorazora vest jacket. If my memory serves me correctly, the foliage protruding from here backpack suggests that she has picked up some carrots from the organic market area.

If you are planning a trip to Tokyo, it is well worth checking out what festivals will be held in the park as it's central location make an easy and exciting excursion. The festivals are all free to enter and access buy Tokyo Metro is very close.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Cider And Toffee Apples @ Middle Farm

Last night we returned home after having spent two wonderful days at Middle Farm in Lewes, East Sussex. The farm holds various events throughout the year and last weekend was their 17th annual Apple Festival.

As you can imagine, Apples were very much the theme over the weekend with a plentiful flow of cider, apple juice, toffee apples and a vast selection of fresh apples. The pressing of apples was the first sight for customers entering this delightful farm. There was plenty of live music, dancing and even a funfair to provide entertainment.

With a lot of food to soak up the cider, not all traditional British, Muu was serving some great Japanese dishes (pictured above). It was through Muu that we found out about this popular festival. If you enjoy getting out and about during the festival season, I would strongly recommend that you check Muu's website for details of the events they will be attending next season. If you happen to be at the same festival, please do pop along and try out their great food.

Middle Farm is definitely a place I would recommend for anyone who would like to combine shopping in a farm shop, a nice meal in a restaurant, educational entertainment for their children and coming face to face with some friendly domesticated animals.

The daily milking of cows can be viewed and the list of farm animals is quite long as it includes pigs, horses, ducks, sheep, rabbits and an unbelievable range of chicken breeds. The two peacocks were hardly domesticated as they seemed to have free run on the farm that they have chosen to call home.

If you are interested to learn more about Middle Farm and what is on offer there, please check out their website.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Middle Farm's Apple Festival

Today we will be heading down to Middle farm in Lewes, East Sussex for their annual Apple Festival.

This is the seventeenth year that they have held this nationwide celebration of our national fruit and expect around six thousand visitors over Saturday & Sunday.

If you are free, please come down and enjoy the live music and range of products that will be on offer.

The festival will be open from 10am through to 5pm on both days and we are looking forward to seeing you all there.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

5 New Tokyo Green Glass Pendants

Today's new product upload is a set of 5 glass pendants attached to ornate macrame cords. For more information on these items, click here!

These are the first 5 of a new batch of 21 kindly sent by Masaya Kuribayashi from his glass workshop located in Shibuya, Tokyo. The pendants were crafted from a few different techniques including Neutral, Inside-out and Uchu.

Each pendant has been attached to a macrame cord using a variety of dyed and undyed natural fibres. These include hemp, nettle, flax and cotton. Each cord has been crafted with loving care by Atslan.

Manihiki (Inside-out series)

Lana'i (Neutral series)

Sapienza (Inside-out series)

Alofi (Glass bead series)

Alamagan (Uchu serires)

Link to information on Green Glass Tokyo

Link to information on Atslan

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Natural Dye Silk Shawls

Today's product upload are these loose weave shawls made from raw silk (untreated silk).
All of our beautifully soft silk shawls have been dyed using a variety of natural soothing colours to compliment almost any outfit. The more these shawls are worn, the softer they become.

For more details about these shawls, click here!

These are a selection from the many dyes that we use. Many new colours are achieved by overdyeing and all our silk shawls are dyed by us here in the UK and all mordanted with alum. Until now, just a few colours were available online with a broader selection available in our shop. We are now happy to be able to make one of our most popular items available online.

Madder & Elderberry / Elderberry

Myrobalan & Indigo / Himalayan Rhubarb & Elderberry

Onion Skin / Himalayan Rhubarb / Walnut Husk

Madder (deep) / Madder (pale)

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs http://www.sorazora.com/

Atslan Bone Pendants

Today's product upload are these hand carved buffalo bone pendants. Crafted by Atslan, they come attached to a fully ornate and adjustable cord. For more details on these pendants, click here

The cords are crafted from two different threads. Wax coated rayon has been used for the central core, with hemp worked around the rayon to provide these bone pendants with a strong adjustable cord. Simply slide the large bone bead along the cord to adjust the length.

For more pendants from Atslan and Green Glass Tokyo, watch this space as more will be added slowly over the next few weeks.

Natural fibres, Natural dyes and Original designs

http://www.sorazora.com/