A collaboration between HOKO and AMA architectural studio in Taiwan, the AGRIOZ museum + cafe project is finally completed.

Here are some images of the cafe …

more photos will be updated for the museum and DIY sections …

kumquats kumquats kumquats

preparing the fruits for display

lights up

glass up

rosemary, stevia, lavendar, osmanthus, safflower  …

spices on top of kumquats

how to draw a tree?

how to grow a tree?

lion vs panda

lights up, tree up.

horse vs light

small lamp big table small cup big chair…

how to make a kumquat pie drawing, recipe book in the making …

textile shopping at Taipei textile market

florals

checks & stripes & dots

handmade DIY ‘bento’ box for:

1 x jar of sugar

1 x jar of salt

1 x dishcloth

1 x label sticker roll

10 x wooden chopsticks

1 x hemp string spool

1 x safety scissors

1 x oil based pen

2 x wooden spoons

10 x jam jar textile covering

+ stevia

+ toothpicks

H O K O is currently at Yilan, Taiwan, and this is a mini documentation of our work-in-progress on our design project for the AGRIOZ Candied Fruits Museum + Cafe. This project is in collaboration with AMA Architectural Studio, Taiwan.

AGRIOZ is a family owned business specializing in candied fruits , mainly the kumquat, a small edible fruit of the citrus family. For more information about AGRIOZ, please visit : www.agrioz.com.tw

alvin, marking out where the big clock should be…

this is the area where DIY workshops will be held. you can learn how to make candied fruits here and bring them home for consumption after …

we will have to re-design this DIY table service…

… and also furnish these shelves with information about the fruits that they use.

sketching and planning of other peripheries…

throwing out unwanted junk … they have alot!

shopping at IKEA , Taipei.

and also sourcing for some european antiques…

trying our luck at DAISO, Taipei.

sprucing up the cafe entrance.

more updates to come …

HOKO’s main and sub-site are finally renewed and ready for viewing. Please click to visit!

Chanced upon this timeless article from an old Axis magazine quite some time ago, and finally, we have some time to share it with you today …

This hole in a sink is like a substitute player for the drain hole that takes the main role. It watches, bored from the upper deck, with its mouth open, as the heroic act of the leading character is displayed in center stage. Just because it doesn’t actually have to go on stage, it can’t be irritated and close its mouth. To be fully prepared for those unexpected situations, it has to stand by without sleep. That’s why we can’t blame it for yawning, or sighing once in a while. But when someone plugs the drain, the situation changes drastically. Staring at the steadily rising water and feeling like backing off, it has to stand firm for the crucial stage as there’s no substitute for the substitute, and starts gulping while fully prepared to drown if necessary. This is the moment when its unceasing effort finally pays off. Looking at the water flowing into this hole, though, gives us the illusion that the water takes a different route from the drainpipe to be hushed up in a black hole. The key player that saved us from the peril of flooding is now applauded and a small Cinderella story results. Take a snap shot of its proud moment flanked by the faucet and liquid soap dispenser. It now looks like a different “person”.

- Text by Nobuyuki Imai

- Photo by Hisakazu Shimizu

Axis Vol.112 ,December 2004

Divya Ponda, Age 4

Shawna Tay, Age 7

Dominique Huang, Age 4

Chloe Kor, Age 6

Naina Tanaja, Age 4

Choo Jing Xian, Age 10

Arianna Yu, Age 6

Please make some time to visit this exhibition.

The works are beautiful, and most of them will make us adults feel ashamed of ourselves.

On a better note, at least we know that we were once potential artists!

Date: 1st - 20th April 2010

Time: 11am - 7pm

Venue: The Arts House ( free admission)

Organised by: Art Zone

We Sink Ships (WSS) is a collaboration featuring Heidi Kuisma, a Finnish, Glasgow based photographer and Neil Milton, a Scottish photographer, musician and record label owner living in Warsaw in Poland. Together they create and curate online photo exhibitions and present We Sink Ships Radio, a series of weekly podcasts hosted on Radio Magnetic, an online radio station dedicated to quality, underground, independent, alternative music and one of the UK’s top five internet radio stations since it began in early 2001.

We Sink Ships Gallery was born of a desire to showcase and promote work by talented and zealous emerging photographers from around the world. In their selection process for images and now also for poetry, We Sink Ships, being completely self tought themselves, values passion over education and enthusiasm over expensive equipment; you don’t have to be an art school graduate or own the latest camera to be included in one of the exhibitions.

H O K O has been kindly invited to contribute a selection of photos for their latest online photography exhibition titled :

In Transit (1st - 30th April 2010 )