Bonsai Tree Houses by Takanori Aiba

For nearly a decade since the late 1970s artist Takanori Aiba worked as a maze illustrator for Japanese fashion magazine POPYE. The following decade he worked as an architect and finally in 2003 decided to merge the two crafts—the design of physical space and the drawing of labyrinths—into these incredibly detailed tiny worlds. Using craft paper, plastic, plaster, acrylic resin, paint and other materials Aiba constructs sprawling miniature communities that wrap around bonsai trees, lighthouses, and amongst the cliffs of nearly vertical islands. I would love to visit every single one of these places, if only I was 6 feet shorter. See more of Aiba’s work here. (via design you trust)

Potted on a Budget

budget. i hate that word. my financial methodology is more along the lines of “try to be sensible and then hope for the best.” i’m not a planner by any means. i don’t, for instance, make lists when i go to the grocery store (that’s why all those tins of stuffed olives keep cropping up in the fridge.) but, i do keep the financial lessons learnt from my parents fresh in my mind –
i am a bit obsessed with the idea of indoor plants right now. But my mother hates a mess... if you step inside my house - its spacious, for 3/ 5 of us believe in minimalistic living. Ofcourse the other 2 would be my sister - a junk collector and my brother who just happens to find a place for everything outside rather than folding and neatly putting them away inside... anyone have tips for venturing into this territory? nice plants that won’t die too easily… succulents? i do love the look of them, but also don’t want our place to look like a desert garden conservatory. Also being Jain - my mother is strictly against bonsai - which stunts the growth of a normal plant -- also we do get an awful lot of sunlight in most of the flat but unfortunately there are always those crows and pigeons trying to eat their way in..., so i think our future plants would have to be okay with that.and the whole point of telling you about the budget was - she does not want me to buy those plastic pots - she thinks those are expensive - so... Im looking for other ways !!