9-Kei will be part of a Plush show in LA!!!!
Please go check it out if you around on Saturday 12/06 at “Monkey Toys and Art Gallery” at 1618 ½ Silver Lake Blvd.
Here are our new “guys”

October trip to Brazil

It was a shorter trip than the February one, but could see some new graphites that I’d like to share...

This one is by a graphite artist called "Tidi Freak". There is something in it that reminded me of Joe's art... I think is the heart in ther hands (my mom mentioned that!).

These 2 are by the world famous "Gemeos":

And some pictures of Museum of Independency in Sao Paulo.
I thought it was interesting because last time I went there, I thought that the statues were in decay, pretty bad shape. Then this time, some artist made an installation in the monument putting some "live save jackets" in some of them... My mother was wondering why... her conclusion is that they are crying for help before they "sink at once".

It’s been a while since my last entry in this blog.
I just came back from Brazil, my second trip back home this year, and there are so many things that I think are inspiring that I decided to do 2 entries: first of pictures from my trip in February ( I did not have a blog back then!), and another from the trip in October….


In Sao Paulo, there is a alley way called "Beco do Batman" where graphite artists painted many feet of walls with amazing colors... Joe took pictures of many of them. These are my favorites:

Also, in Sao Paulo, there is the culture of "padarias": neighborhood bakeries, that serve fresh bread every hour; also serve lunch, coffees, breakfasts etc. I just miss them so much that I'd like to make one in here!

In Rio de Janeiro, besides the natural beauties like the beaches etc., we also saw very beautiful/intriguing things like "A Escadaria do Chileno".... and more street art.

Between, Sao Paulo and Rio, there is little ceramic town called Cunha, where we visited many ceramic studios. Most of them, use a Japanese technique called "noborizaka" oven to fire their pieces.

We also went to Minas Gerais and visited some little towns like Ouro Preto, Belo Horizonte, etc. In Minas, there are many art from stones and crystals; and many churches from Barroco period.

Jill of All Trades

We are just back to Portland from Jill of All Trades in Santa Barbara, CA.
Jill of All Trades is a once a year event in our friends Presidio Motel (http://www.thepresidiomotel.com/).
The event was great: good music, good energy, good food, live paint, all kind of vendors, etc. And 9-kei was there with our 2008 line... I have to explain here that we will always have only one line a year. The craft thing is great and we have lots of fun making everything, but it takes a lot of time... So, we will start working now for our 2009 line that, hopefully, we will launch in 2009 Jill of All Trades. :)
But if you missed Jill of All Trades, it is not too late for you to get some of our cute/cool stuff. There are some stores in LA and SB that will carry our line: Sirens and Sailors in Echo Park (http://www.sirensandsailors.com/), Lab 101 in Culver City(http://www.thelab101.com/), and Insole Kicks in SB... also, you can contact us through our website (http://www.9-kei.com/).
I wish I had more pictures, but there were so many things going on that it was hard for me to remember to take pictures. Here are some...

9-Kei 2008

Finally, a 9-Kei blog...
It's been almost 1 year since our first T-shirt line.
The first line was sold at the first Jill of All Trades in Santa Barbara, at Munky King and Lab 101 in LA.
Since, we moved to Portland, we added some new items like hats, bags, decorative pieces, some robots etc....
For those who don't know, 9-Kei is pretty much a collaboration between JShea9 and Keiko Okuda.
Joe is a full time artist, and I consider myself a to be ceramicist.... but also, I'd always loved to knit, sew and crochet...
if you are curious to see what we made for this "what we call second line" please check our website at http://www.9-kei.com/. It is kind of in construction now, but we will post more and more pictures as time let us.

Thanks for checking our blog,
K & J