So I guess the clock moved backward---by one minute, it doesn't matter. This means we are now even more committed to make this earth a greener and more peaceful place to live on. We also strive to reduce carbon emission and promote energy efficiency.
Speaking os which, we should come up with more eco-houses which are not necessary expensive. Does going green mean spending on more expensive goods? It should be the reversed.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock...
So, Jan. 10-12 marks Ebisu Festival (戎祭り-literally means the festival of the god of fishermen and prosperity) in Osaka~ So what do we do? This is the day most business people will go to the shrine (神社-jinjya) and pray for business success and prosperity. This year seems completely awesome~ weather was good too! In conjunction to this, it was also also Coming of Age Day (成人の日 to mark the 20 years of age for girls reaching their adulthood) on January 11. So many girls in beautiful, expensive kimonos on the street to celebrate it.
Here's a video of the festival to bring the best of luck and prosperity to everyone.
Video courtesy of chottomatte.net
Rye of Level 5 Design is probably one of the first few J-Wall applicators in the West Coast. He has over 6 years of experience working with Wara Juraku and the other sand-based materials..jpg)
Perfect ambience~.jpg)
See how the wall is not just done in one way? It just takes some creativity and artistic skills to create a wabi sabi beautiful wall..jpg)
Like I said before, application can be done on any kind of architecture, any room, any theme. We have so many colors and textures to choose from~.jpg)
Even ceilings can be applied..jpg)
Bling bling feature wall~.jpg)
Wara Juraku will always be one of my favorite series after Wabi
For more information on Rye's work, please email info@levelfivedesign.com or call 510-665-9013
Photos courtesy of Rye Hudak
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You guys should definitely visit Surface FX showroom in Santa Barbara. It looks small from the outside, but a lot of gems inside...one of which of course, is J-Wall..jpg)
The Zen Collection~.jpg)
This is my favorite part of the showroom - The Shell! This is what we call Art!.jpg)
Kallisto is very talented and innovative in playing with J-Wall base materials. We strongly encourage you to use your imagination and creativity to make J-Wall even more exciting~.jpg)
The Walls are Wabi and Kyoto+straw #3.jpg)
Some swatch boards of J-Wall~.jpg)
Wabi is still the most popular~.jpg)
Kyoto will always look even better when straw is added~
Surface FX
114 Powers Ave
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Tel: 805-963-3126
What is Japanese Wall?
What is J-Wall?
What is Zen Wall?
....It's simply the HEALTHIER WALL~
Please click on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Japanese-Wall-Zen-Wall/212935871372 to become a fan of J-Wall.
With 2009 ticking down, and in conjunction to Thanksgiving season, this is the perfect time to give thanks, especially after a lot of hardship many have gone through this year.
1) THANK YOU to our loyal supporters of J-Wall aka Zen Wall since we revitalized our brand in 2007 - we are afterall over 30 years old
2) THANK YOU to our fellow applicators for all the good work you have done for J-Wall aka Zen Wall. You make J-Wall beautiful on the inside and outside!
3) THANK YOU to our distributors, agents, and dealers worldwide for your continuous advertising, hard work, and selfless supports to present J-Wall aka Zen Wall positively and effectively.
4) THANK YOU to all who have supported our humble efforts to contribute little to make this world a better place to live, by using a clean product to enhance our indoor air quality and contribute to low running cost for exterior finishing.
5) THANK YOU for believing in J-Wall aka Zen Wall.
6) THANK YOU to all the Architects and Designers who have boldly specified our J-Wall aka Zen Wall in your esteemed projects. Your trust and appreciation towards J-Wall will trigger us to work harder to come up with more innovative and beautiful eco-wall products.
The economy may seem rough like the giant tidal waves, but if we continue to generate our positive chi, retain our faith, strength, we can overcome any challenges facing us! I have good feelings about 2010 as J-Wall is continuously being specified in nice jobs. What does that says? Healthier living, more beautiful walls and ceilings.
With the above said, here's a Hug to everyone~
PS: I caught this shot in Bali this Summer ...the message has been conveyed above. cool eh?
This is just one of the showrooms in Malaysia dedicated to natural products, i.e. eco-friendly ceilings, walls and floor. It is worth noting that this premise was in very bad shape and refurbished and turned into a "green shop".
It was designed to keep its original state, and spiced up natural stone cladding - Creative Lamistone of Victorian series and CeraGrani for the exterior wall to add some aesthetics. Even the timber flooring on the 1st floor was not replaced, and after further grinding, it looked totally new. The windows as you can see is pretty antique, but tasty. Whoever said old stuff was bad?
Japanese Wall + Zen Kabe logo just looks so grand from the outside. It was said that the beautification of this premise brought joys to the neighborhood which is one of the earliest high-end development in the city of Kuching, also known as Cat City. Did I forget to mention J-Wall is getting hot in Borneo?
Although Green Building is still considered green in Malaysia, J-Wall with its international exposure is able to lead the eco-friendly sustainable building trend ---starting from a small city called Kuching in Borneo. Way to go!
More photos of the interior will be posted. Even the ceilings are green and beautiful! Again, stay tuned and thank you for your paciencia.
If you attended GreenBuild 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona, you'd probably receive a copy of the GreenSource Magazine November/ December issue. Check out J-Wall's new look in its full page ad on Circle 43. Should you require further clarification, please email info@japanesewall.com and log on to www.japanesewall.com for more information.
We've been so busy this year. I know many have been talking about how this is the worst economic crisis ever in the United States and beyond, but hey, life goes on. Just hang in there; let's continue to look forward and stay ahead, and most importantly to continue innovating! The worst time will pass before we know it. Persistence and close collaborative network is the key in all aspects of life, not just in business. This year, we have got many activities happening across the globe, and many showrooms/ offices are in progress and have opened in different countries.
We are proud to announce another showroom of J-Wall in Russia. It is located in Nizhny Novgorod, which is the big industrial center on the Volga River (Волга in Russian) - also the largest river in Europe.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
This is the entrance to the showroom. See Ayaka and Karin being applied on the wall? The workmanship is superb, indeed.
The color combo gives good selection for customers and maybe designers/ architects.
This is a good guide for others who plan to build a thorough and straight forward J-wall showroom.
Tah-Dah, this is Mr. Dmitry Teplukhin, the director of the showroom and company PE "Teplukhin".
Thank you Alla for the wonderful photos. Please stay tuned as we are going to post more updates and photos.
Exterior application usually looks easy, but the amount of work involves cannot be explained in a word or two. This application took place at one of the new showrooms of Malaysia distributor - AHE which is located in Borneo, truly Paradise. There is a clever combination between natural stone wall cladding and granite-look spray coating - CeraGrani. AHE produces natural stones, and you know what we do with the by-products of natural stone, I am sure~ I will post more photos of the completed new showroom...from the outside.
Firas, hope you find this video useful! :)
We proudly reintroduces Wara Juraku! For the past 20 years, we have been promoting Wara Juraku, and after further improvement we now reintroduce Wara Juraku in both Interior (6 colors) and Exterior series(12 colors). Wabi will go side by side with Wara Juraku, although the latter does not contain diatomite earth.
Wara Juraku is composed of juraku sand, special clay and straw. Unlike Wabi, which comes with separate color pack, the straw in Wara Juraku will not be tinted by the color pack. We only introduce traditional colors of Wara Juraku.
Wara Juraku interior comes does not come with separate bonding emulsion, so simply add water and apply.
Features:
* Natural straw in the material creates a refined texture and calm atmosphere.
* Like other J-Wall series, it has excellent incombustibility and meet fire resistant quality required by Japanese Industrial Standards (JIS A 6909)
* No discoloration
* Breathing properties as condensation is rare
* Contains ceramics which emit far infra-red rays - good for health
* Like other J-Wall it also produces seamless wall surface, even on a larger surface
Wara Juraku EX is another wonderful series for exterior walls, but we recommend to apply on walls with overhanging roofs.
Weight Per bag for Wara Juraku Interior: 5.5KG (covers approximately 35 sq.ft.)
Weight Per bag for Wara Juraku Exterior: 7.0KG (covers approximately 35 sq.ft.)
We love Wara Juraku!
Entrance towards what I call - The Igloo..jpg)
This is the show unit of the holiday apartment @ hotel room which is fully furnished. Starting price is calling for US$400K ++.jpg)
Everything you see in the room is imported from Europe.
Hadi with a pose. Doesn't the ceiling look funky. Did I forget to mention that the structure is built with MDF board?
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Men at Work, trying to finish the job before the harsh winter begins. What does this remind you of? bee hives? glacier? or ice flower? I forgot to mention that the structure was first shaped with MDF boards, then there are three layers composed of wire mesh, concrete, steel..jpg)
The building is created by a team of young and energetic designers and architects from the Kalvan Group in Tehran, while the engineers on site supervising the jobs are all below the age of 35. This is the essence of energetic and creative young blood..jpg)
J-Wall is proud to be part of the project..jpg)
When this is completed, it is with hope that our team can win some international award. One thing I am sure is that upon completion, it would be the most beautiful white building in Shemshak winter, spring, summer and fall.
I will post more photos on the mock up using CeraCube and the simply fabulotastic interior...one of its kind.
Green Source Magazine- The Magazine of Sustainable Design. Green Source Magazine is a publication of The McGraw Hill Companies.
This video shows the application of CeraCube. Again, the underlying surface must be clean, dry, free of dust. This is one of the easiest material to apply, especially if we want to create a seamless wall. We strongly encourage buildings, especially the high rise buildings to use this. This is super light-weight alternative to natural stone cladding.
The long awaited Feugo restaurant @ Hotel Maya is finally open in July.
The entire setting looks fabulous.
The Black Sumba pebble-washed floor coupled wit Wabi 201(Ichigo) wall and Wabi 13(Kuju) ceilings give a harmonious blend of natural products.
Photo credits: Derek @ Mardero
This is a massive and impressive structure at the Shemshak ski resort of which Ceracube CE-201A (ketoy) will be applied on. We are all looking forward to the final masterpiece!
Our CeraGrani is by far a series which requires much skill and techniques. Application with spray gun in fact makes job done faster. There is really no trick to this, but experience on the nozzle size used, when to adjust the pressure from air compressor, and judgment on the viscosity. Always do a trial on small area before starting full application. This way you can judge the viscosity and the coarseness of the finish.
PS: On this video, we also show joint tape, for projects which requires granite cladding look. A seamless wall would look good as well. As long as the underlying surface is sound, J-Wall Exterior can last for long long time.
You must not have believed that not only can bamboo charcoal (竹炭takesumi) be used in decoration, it can also be consumed! Speaking of which, I have been eating bread made of takesumi powder everyday. This is not just it. There are now takesumi candy, takesumi coffee, tea, takesumi crackers etc etc. So let's talk more about takesumi...
There are different types of charcoals, including:
i) the wood charcoal which is regularly used for fuel,
ii) the binchotan which is used in our wall covering, and most recently,
iii) the black diamond, which is a very popular Japanese bamboo charcoal (takesumi)
Bamboo Charcoal is able to absorb and disintegrate odor/VOC, emit infra-red rays and break off EMW, all of which are properties not found in other types of charcoal. It may also seem rather unbelievable that besides being used for decoration, the Bamboo Charcoal can also be consumed. Natural and organic Bamboo Charcoal can also be reused.
Bamboo is amongst the fastest growing plants on record – young shoots can grow all of 4 meters in height overnight while more mature bamboo trees can reach the height of a 6-storey building. Despite its height and quick growth rate, it only has a lifespan of 6~8 years, which is shorter compared to most other trees. Cutting of bamboos has the least effect on the environment and ecosystem compared to other wood trees.
On top of its affordable price and low environmental impact, it is the health-related aspects of the Bamboo Charcoal that makes it so precious, like the Zen Wall –
1) It has the ability to absorb and disintegrate odor, thereby purifying the air.
2) It has high absorption properties to kill bacteria, detoxify the air and act as a dehumidifier.
3) It contains over 300 types of micro-organic minerals required by the human body.
The magical absorptive characteristics of Bamboo Charcoal owes to the very fine pores (vessels) of around 2~3micrometers, which are used by the living plant to transport nutrients from the ground. This provides a large surface area which is in direct contact with the surrounding air – an area of which is equivalent to a 25 meter long swimming pool per 1g of Bamboo Charcoal. 
Bamboo Charcoal also positively affects human health directly. The far infra-red rays emitted can help increase blood circulation, thereby easing muscle pain, hemorrhoids, burns and wounds. Bamboo Charcoal, which has been charred under temperatures in excess of 750 degrees Celcius generates and releases negative ions, which neutralize the positive ions emitted from computers, mobile phones, lights and other electronics/electrical appliances around us. Studies have shown that it is these positive ions emitted that make us feel tired after long hours in front of the computer/ television.
Although Bamboo Charcoal has so much goodness, it is important to use them correctly towards achieving a healthier lifestyle.
* Improve Water Quality
Placing Bamboo Charcoal pieces in drinking water helps to purify the water by adsorbing the impurities into its pores. During the first few weeks of usage, the Bamboo Charcoal also releases minerals which are good for our body. It is also able to make wine more fragrant whilst removing its tartness, and also make tea tastier by reducing the acidity. The difference can be tasted simply by adding a piece of clean Bamboo Charcoal to the drink.
* Purify the Air
Placing the bamboo charcoal in a cool, dry section of a room will help make the air cleaner, odourless and help balance the humidity of indoor air. Introduction of more negative ions will also make the air feel fresher. However, do bear in mind that the effects of the Bamboo Charcoal is less obvious in highly ventilated and spacious areas. The most effective areas are the bedroom, powder room, study room, and even in the fridge. If you wish to place it in the living room or kitchen, simply increase the amount of Bamboo Charcoal used. I also recommend KuroChiko.
* Improve Blood Circulation System
You may have heard of charcoal beds before. The beds made from natural Bamboo Charcoal can help improve sleep quality and reduce aches from inappropriate sleeping positions. Simply placing the Bamboo Charcoal under the bed linings and pillows also has the same positive effects. The odour and humidity of the bed is also reduced. In addition, when used on car seats and chair cushions, our blood circulation can be improved. Further use of the Bamboo Charcoal in the bath tubs for a bubble bath or spa also improves the blood circulation.
* Blocks EMW
Electrical/Electronic appliances produce EMW. Placing some bamboo charcoal around the computer, microwave, television and ventilator protects our well-being by reducing the amount of EMW emitted, which can harm our body.
Bamboo Charcoal pieces that have been used will gradually become less effective. In this case, disposal is NOT an option. Simply placing the used Bamboo Charcoal in the pots of the indoor plants or bonsai will help the plants to grow better.
Today is the 5th day of the 5th Lunar month of the Chinese calendar, and is also known as the Dragon Boat Festival. I am not going to tell the story here, but just to remind you to drink some water from the tap (make sure filtered) or clean up your face/ shower between 11:30~13:00. This water is said to make one healthier. The story is from late Ming dynasty. A general brought his troop to the hill and couldn't find the water for days. He prayed to the heaven, then struck his sword into the ground and the water spurted out on the 5th day of 5th lunar month at noon. Not trying to be superstitious but we do it too.
22" Length KuroChiku Charcoal is officially available at J-Wall for US$180/10pc with free shipping to selected cities. Remember to get a vase to match. Please call 1-877-JWALL-4U for more information or send us an email at info@japanesewall.com
Previously I have discussed about the magical characteristics of charcoal and bamboo charcoal竹炭（ちくたん-ChikuTan). Now, let's get into something more specific - Black Bamboo, otherwise known as KuroChiku (黒竹).
Japanese KuroChiku Charcoal is much straighter and when burnt under a high temperature of 800 degrees Celcius and above, it actually turns silver black, and the shine makes them look precious. Like diatomite earth, KuroChiku Charcoal can effectively absorb and disintegrate formaldehyde due to the about high composition of pore structure.
Decorating our homes, office, bathroom etc with KuroChiku Charcoal complements with J-Wall. What are the unique properties?
1) Deodorizing properties
2) Humidity Control
3) Absorption and disintegration formaldehyde and VOC, tested in labs.
4) Emits Far Infra Red Rays and negative ions thus enhance our blood circulation
5) Shields electromagnetic wave 
I have some of these at home myself - not just for decorative purpose, but also to improve the indoor air quality. It feels excellent to be surrounded by good chi and minus ions.
Hotel Maya is claimed to be the first distinctive full-service, luxury boutique hotel which fuses the essence of Latin American resort and modern So. CA. how fusion is that! 
Andy and crew are now busy working with Wabi on Fuego at Hotel Maya - Long Beach's newest waterfront restaurant and bar which is opening on July 1, 2009. Woo hoo~
Finally we have a design team - Arya Group that appreciates this striking red color I initiated as special color for Wabi - #201A Ichigo. You may know Ichigo actually means strawberry and this color totally brings liveliness to the premise. Uncomplicated, only 3 colors are being used in this job - Wabi plain color which is very light grey for the ceilings, Wabi #13 which is subtle mix of beige and grey and Wabi #201A for the wall. Such a brilliant contrast between subtle Juraku colors and bright red. They fuse well, don't you think?
So Red!
We are all excited and anxious to see the outcome. And we believe we can see so much essence of Wabi Sabi in this job. Can't wait til the opening of Fuego in July! I was told it will be "THE" place for fun celebration in downtown long beach... Do share with us and send by email if you have some nice photos of this restaurant later on!
Thanks Derek for sharing these photos!
