Five participating creative minds, five Feng Shui elements: on the eleventh night of the eleventh month in the eleventh year of the 21st century, art & craft giftshop Icana NV presented an artistic showcase to its loyal customers. The presentation, for the seventeenth year in a row, revolved around the theme of Feng Shui, an Eastern philosophy. Ivette Adams, director/owner of Icana, invited five creative minds to participate in this annual event: Linda Landbrug, Kim Sontosoemarto, Gudrun de Vries, Jeranie Tam-Smit and Winston van der Bok.
Ivette Adams: “The date 11/11/11 is, according to the Asians, especially the Chinese, the ultimate date to do business. This day brings wealth and prosperity. This year Icana presented the audience a fusion of all the Feng Shui elements: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.”
Feng Shui is all about harmony. Literally it means: wind and water. According to Chinese philosophy a good Feng Shui in your living environment is very important because this has effects on all other areas of your life: your health, your family, your work and so on.
Linda Landbrug is a sinologist, a China expert. She regularly gives courses in Mandarin-Chinese, where the subject Feng Shui invariably comes up. Her company also offers translation and interpreting services.
Visual artist Winston van der Bok provided frames for the calligraphic presentation of the Feng Shui elements by Linda Landbrug, inspired by those same elements. “I participated because the challenge appeals to me to work with concepts and elements from other cultures. The elements are universal and also play an important role in indigenous culture. This is reflected in my work in the symbols, shapes, colors, and movement.” Van der Bok feels most connected with fire.
To versatile artist Kim Sontosoemarto the theme is familiar territory. “According to Feng Shui masters November 11, ’11 is one of the most favorable dates of the 21st century, a time when the pillars of heaven and earth will be in balance. For this once-in-a-lifetime event I wanted to combine old skills with new skills.” Sontosoemarto’s jewelry, mostly made of silver clay, was presented along with the collection designed by Jeranie Tam-Smit, by dancers choreographed and styled by Tanuya Manichand.
The great passion of Jeranie Tam-Smit is jewelry. For this collection she has worked with pearls, wood, glass, metal and shells. Tam-Smit took great effort to integrate the elements of Feng Shui in the precious pieces.
The contribution of Gudrun NV consists of a collection of jewelry which was shown in a stylish manner, in line with the theme. Black and white were the colors used for the table but also for the dresses of the presenters. Gudrun de Vries works primarily with pearls and precious stones. The element of water is reflected in the drop shape of the gems of including rose quartz, amazonite and crystal.
Icana works with the principle ‘people, planet, profit’ in mind. The welfare of mankind and of the earth always comes first.
Text: Marieke Visser, 2011
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