0 Creativity Spotlight: Ivahona Shop, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Hi everyone ^.^

This is the first post under the category Creativity Spotlight, a category that will feature creative works that we come across both offline and online. It's basically like a mini report and our opinions on the creative works that we have decided to share. 

So without further ado here's the first one by T1 ^.^ 

On the fourth the day in Antananarivo, my family and I went around town to see the main sights. Our first stop was the old train station that has become a museum with small gift shops. It was here, that I came across a small souvenir shop that caught my attention. From the outside it seemed very normal but when I took a look inside, the atmosphere was so pleasant and nice that I wanted to take pictures and share what I've seen. Fortunately, the shop assistant gave me permission to document this beautiful small shop.

The Ivahona shop from the main entrance of the train station.

What I love about this store is how the interior is designed in a clean modern way but with a local and vintage touch. This can be seen from the use of the neat ordered racks and displays but filled with local details such as the woven baskets and bags. 

Aesthetically, this is one of the most pleasant shops I've seen. Everything here is just perfectly balanced. Local, clean, modern but with a vintage feel. Homy. Simple yet stunning. 

Displaying items in the local way.

Mats for hot pans from bottle caps, simply creative! :)

 A balanced combination of wood, natural colours and other accessories brightens up the whole space.

My favourite shot. How putting flowers into a can, can simply brighten your window :)

 What I learnt from this small walk through experience is that with creativity you can always turn something simple into something stunning yet still humble and memorable.


Hope I can do something like this for my own home one day :)


Hope you enjoyed this post, see you next time :) 

0 Hobby to the extreme: Super-sized Paper Craft! 0_o

Hobby to the extreme? Definately. XD

Like many hobby enthusiasts, it's just not as enthusiastic until you take it to the major extreme (Note on how it's in bold letters). How extreme are we saying? I'm saying extreme in size and in some cases to the amount of detail put into their art... and the lengths people go to - to be the very first.   

The best thing as many of us know when you make paper craft is that it's a pretty cheap hobby but you get similar results to an actual figure that you buy in toy stores, or a replica of the desired object. Basically, all you need is a printer, paper, cutting tools (scissors, cutters), tweezers, a ruler, a blunt pin/run out ink pen and pretty much a pc/laptop to print out your templates with. Not that hard, right? 

This one's still small, wait till you see the Super-Sized one!

Well, my friends, here I give you some of the extreme things people do for paper craft.

 Optimus Prime Movie Paper Craft

Paper Prime: "I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots."

What's better than the big Huge Autobot Commander Optimus Prime himself? Since, you know, he's pricey if you buy him as a toy, why not make him out of paper and welcome him to the family? 

0 Go Typo with Typography! ;)

Typography is an art that is based on typos or what many of us call text.

It's a rather simple and straight forward art than that of the basis on drawing skills. So if you're not good at drawing with a pencil or any other sort of art utensil then this is the art for you. As I said, I can't stress you enough how you only use just text, but can make the cutest, most awesome and even inspirational pictures.

Here's a few I've done:

You can do it Cute ^_^ :

My fav Norton Hear's a Who quote.  

You can do it for Quotes:

One of my fav quotes. 

You can even do it if your a real fan of something: 

All names of the Autobots (cartoons, comics, toys, and heck the movies)

I'm a real Transformers fan. Sue me. =D

So basically, Typography is mostly about positioning and editing letters together to make it into an artistic picture which requires a lot of patience at times but can be really fun + addictive too. If you're feeling bored and don't know what to do, try making something like Typography, it keeps you entertained for hours. :D


Hope you enjoyed this post~!


- T2 -