San Juan's Natural Balance House is Ready~

The Natural Balance House is finally finished and furnished!

We are proud to be one of the contributors of Natural Balance House on San Juan Island, of which the interior walls and ceilings is covered with straw-laced Wabi of our Japanese Wall@Zen Wall--- which is 100% non-toxic and non-VOC. Wabi is made not only to look beautiful, but more importantly to enhance healthier indoor environment, by absorbing and disintegrating formaldehyde and VOC. Also not forgetting to mention the beautiful stone finishes throughout the property.

The plastering work of Zen Wall was skillfully done by Berkeley based Level Five's Rye Hudak.

For more information about Natural Balance House, please visit http://www.naturalbalancehouse.com/

Please also visit www.japanesewall.com and b.japanesewall.com for more information.

Together, we help promote green living and create a healthier environment to live in.

PS: We will be posting more photos of the completed work at Blue Ribbon @ The Cosmopolitan Hotel, LV in due course.

Dadong

As you walk up the grand staircase of one of the most talked-about Dadong Peking Roast Duck Restaurant at Dongsishitiao, Dongcheng District, turn left toward the main dining hall. As you enter, you will see this beautiful earthy wall which blends in the Chinese element with Japanese look.
A close-up look at the texture. Play around with Wabi, Siltouch to get some more texture.

J-Wall @ Surface FX showroom

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.
The Zen Collection~
This is my favorite part of the showroom - The Shell! This is what we call Art!
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~
The Walls are Wabi and Kyoto+straw #3
Some swatch boards of J-Wall~
Wabi is still the most popular~
Kyoto will always look even better when straw is added~

Surface FX
114 Powers Ave
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Tel: 805-963-3126

Reintroducing Wara Juraku!!!

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!

Wabi in Feugo @ The Maya

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

Living Wabi Sabi: Wisdom in Natural Simplicity

Imperfection can be beautiful. Once we are able accept the so-called flaw in you or me, and/or anything, we will learn what it means to be truly happy. Like fengshui, there needs to be a balance of Yin and Yang. Wabi Sabi encourages such balance in every aspect of life.

Wabi is quiet serenity, a silence that is deep and profound, literally means loneliness. You can also see it a state of meditation to find the true "self" or self-internalizing. Sabi refers to the material aspects of our life, literally it means rusticity, decayed, weathered and the natural process of nature.

"Japanese art, infused with the spirit of wabi sabi, seeks beauty in the truth of the natural world, looking towards nature for its inspiration."

This is the message we are trying to bring through our Wabi series, you will notice the colors which combination of antiquey color and colors of nature - green, yellow and earthy tones. When straw or wara is added to the colors, it looks like blemishes, which in fact is what enhances the beauty of this series of Jwall.

We invite you to continue explore our beautiful Wabi and the more you learn about it, the more you'd fall in love with it. I will continue to write more about the art of Wabi Sabi, as it affects our overall being.

Wabi in Ratna Ling Tibetan Retreat Center

Ratna Ling Retreat Center - located in Cazadero, CA on Hauser Bridge Rd in Sonoma County - is a center for education, healing and spirituality in everyday life, and is open to all irregardless of religious affiliation. Its mission is to share and preserve the written tradition of one of the world's great civilizations - Buddhist texts.

John Bass of Widaka did an excellent job applying Wabi at Ratna Ling's monastery. I must say he is one of the cleanest and tidiest plaster applicators I have ever met. No mess and he had everything under control. Applying Wabi is almost like meditation to him, and I saw a lot of concentration Chi coming out of him. The most important thing - he loves what he applied. Passion is the most important in this industry, isn't it?

John is located in the Bay Area and can be contacted at email: john@widaka.com and tel: 415-517-2073

Wabi and Kyoto EX in Bakti Yoga Monastery

I must salute to Swami and his crew for the wonderful job they have done DIY with Wabi and Kyoto in the one and only Bakti Yoga Monastery cum Retreat Center up in Philo (Western Mendocino County, CA). This retreat center is perfect for those who is looking to find peace from within and to learn about learning to love himself/herself and everything around him/her.

The use of Wabi in the monastery has created an incredible serenity. With the use of Kyoto EX as the exterior matching timber panels sawn from the redwood around the property and processed manually, is a perfect marriage between peace and harmony.

It is not until I visited this place personally that I understand the meaning of sustainable living and deep LOHAS. Thank you, Swami for showing me around!

May Spotlight on WABI

Wabi is one of the most sought after series as it is a Juraku series with wara (straw). Composed of sand, diatomite earth and straw, the effect is a straw laced earthy and neutral look wall which enhances the Zen ambiance of the room.

This is an exciting material which everyone should use for their homes and offices, even to a small area. The positive properties of Wabi are for its ability to control humidity, high fire-resistance, prevent condensation, NON-VOC, NON-formaldehyde, and it can also disintegrate odor and formaldehyde. Humidity control level is around 109.7g/m2

Comes in 15 neutral colors and earthy tones, Wabi is a truly meditative piece of art. I also suggest adding extra sachet of wara straw (40g to one bag of dry material) during mixing process.

This summer will definitely become cooler with Wabi~ For exterior application, Sabi is avaialble.