Art + Design x Life

Eclectic Style — Definition Meaning & History

Eclectic Style — Definition, Meaning & History

Toby Leon
Tagged: Design
Eclectic style doesn’t mix — it collides. Like jazz in a cathedral or silk draped across stone, it’s an aesthetic philosophy built not from allegiance but from alchemy. An approach...
Sustainable Interiors Made from Better Questions

Sustainable Interiors Made from Better Questions

Toby Leon
Tagged: Design

A sustainable interior is a kind of future-tense generosity. A worldview rendered in drywall and daylight, in textiles and thermodynamics. The belief that beauty doesn’t have to cost the future—and responsibility can be radiant.

Ohara Koson: Tradition + Modernity x Shin-hanga

Ohara Koson: Tradition + Modernity x Shin-hanga

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Renowned for his exquisite mastery of kachō-e – the art of depicting birds and flowers – Koson breathed new life into traditional woodblock printing, captivating audiences at home and abroad with his intricate designs, fresh vision and meticulous detail.

Kitagawa Utamaro: Art x Life = Transient Beauty

Kitagawa Utamaro: Art x Life = Transient Beauty

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Utamaro's art primarily focused on capturing the beauty, grace, and elegance of women. An artistic legacy extending far beyond the Edo period—influencing Japanese ukiyo-e and modern art in the West.

Lazy Nerd Explainer: Handmade Vs Handcrafted

Lazy Nerd Explainer: Handmade vs Handcrafted

Toby Leon
Tagged: Design
How Does Something Get Classified as Handmade vs Handcrafted? When it comes to buying handmade or handcrafted items, it's important to understand the distinctions between the two. While both may...
Twin Muses: the Inseperable History of Black & White Art

Twin Muses: The Inseperable History of Black & White Art

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
In a primordial cavern flickering with firelight, the first artist lifts a charcoal-blackened hand to stone. A line emerges—ebony on pale limestone—the world’s earliest story told in black and white....
Yatsuo no Tsubaki’s a Bridge Between Eras

Yatsuo no Tsubaki's A Bridge Between Eras

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Taguchi Tomoki’s Yatsuo no Tsubaki immerses us in a lush realm of camellias, birds, and tidal waters—the miraculous impermanence of nature surfacing in each petal and wing. It also sowed seeds for a modern minimalism Japan would later share with the world.

What Happens in your Brain when you Create Art?

What Happens in Your Brain When You Create Art?

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Embracing the creator within opens boundless doors for self-discovery, innovation, and connection. The neural interplay behind every artistic endeavor reminds us we are wired to dream, to fashion beauty and to share it with others.

Moriz Jung: Pioneering Illustrator and Printmaker

Moriz Jung: Pioneering Illustrator and Printmaker

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Through his short & shining career, Moriz Jung emerged as a messenger of wit, craftsman of applied modernism, chronicler of the comedic and the strange. His bold lines, whimsical creatures and satirical snippets of progress still speak across time.

Vincent Van Gogh: Genius Turmoil & Everlasting Influence

Vincent van Gogh: Genius, Turmoil & Everlasting Influence

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Few figures in Western art have fused profound technical daring with such raw emotional honesty. A tension that shaped Vincent van Gogh's daily existence and the artworks illuminating galleries around the world.

Toyohara Kunichika: Iconic Master of Japanese Art

Toyohara Kunichika: Iconic Master of Japanese Art

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art

Toyohara Kunichika's bold yakusha-e (Kabuki actor prints) documented the theatrical fervor of his time and helped shape the public personas of legendary performers—right before the world changed irreversibly.

Moth Man: how William Forsell Kirby Transformed Entomology

Moth Man: How William Forsell Kirby Transformed Entomology

Toby Leon
Tagged: Art
William Forsell Kirby was a pioneering British entomologist whose works in Victorian entomology had a significant impact on the field. He is recognized as a leading authority in insect classification,...