should you design for free?

As I’ve recently been grappling with some brainstorm sessions and possible side projects, this is a nice reminder indeed! Take a look at this flow chart from Jessica Hische at shouldiworkforfree to help you decide too: via designsojourn

view from a Rickshaw

These men work really hard… especially when there’s 3 of us in the back! As a passenger, the view is very different from this angle compared to biking on your own or in a taxi or bus. It’s totally enjoyable to be a passenger on the back of a bicycle.. your attention doesn’t have to […]

laundry on the streets

A look into the interpretation of “public space”…. There’s one thing with hanging laundry outside one’s window out in the open; it’s certainly another to hang laundry to dry from public lamp posts! Love these silly Chinese.

Flickr uploads: a local Hutong

I spent an early morning wandering a local Hutong a couple weeks ago.. Although I wasn’t able to capture it on camera, it was great to watch people start their mornings: brushing their teeth on the streets together, trash collectors starting off their mornings, children walking to school or waiting for the bus, elderly walking […]

old man playing Chinese chess

Randomly strolling through a neighborhood, I found some old men playing Chinese chess, as they often do in parks. I’m amazed at how active the Chinese are at old age, from dancing groups, martial arts, and card or chess games…all done in the local parks. I wonder about the stories they have to tell and […]

NanLuoGuXiang Hutong

A visit to NanLouGuXiang was great to see with all the small independent and creative shops. From the pottery to Tibetan yogurt and craftmanship items. It’s a shame to come across this article in the Beijinger noting the change in environment from an authentically developed ‘tourist attraction’ to one that will potentially be artificially enforced. […]

capsule apartment

I thought my room was small; this is a very different lifestyle…! With space pressures increasing in Beijing, the first “capsule apartment” complex has now opened in China’s capital – and according to China Hush it’s found at least one tenant. China Hush reported the opening of the capsule complex in Liulangzhuang, Haidian, earlier this month. According to […]

glass as barbed-wire

Finally, I’ve taken some time to see a real, not yet reconstructed, about to be demolished Hutong. More photos to come! I just had to post this one first: Broken glass is used as an inventive way to scare off intruders from trying to gain access into this home. I’m also imagining colored glass and the […]

photography: ordinary Chinese laborers

Documentary photos of the life and work of ordinary Chinese laborers are exhibited by Jiang Lingda, a freelance photographer in Shanghai over the span of nine years. Coming to China as a foreigner, many times we overlook the standard way of life here (or as you may see in some of my posts, finding the ordinary […]