PAN & CIRCUS - Kyoto

PAN & CIRCUS definitely is 'something else'. It is not your regular stay, nor your regular coffee shop. I may sound cliche, but I'm going to say that this particular place is Really Cool & Really Awesome. Totally different from any other place you'd find in Kyoto. The place was said to be a guest house that is also a bar, and event place. But the fact that the place was originally a traditional Japanese house (Machiya) that used as a pawnshop for more than 100 years, filled with random items is what makes the place far more interesting. 

Even before we got to Japan, my Wife have been highly curious about this place, she found the photo of this place via some instagram account, and dying to see the place that is somewhat 'magical'. So we got down in Kyoto, and start looking for this place using Maps apps through my phone and apparently the map (one of those google or apple maps) got us into a wrong place. But after a day or two, the sky has turn dark, out of nowhere, we happened to find this Pan & Circus place. The neon sign was turned off, but when the guy inside saw us taking some photos, he turned the lights on, and offered us to come in.

"We got hot coffee here, call me when you want to order" he said. Such a nice young gentlemen wearing a beanie. I looked around and they got tin cans of coffee blends from Saturdays NYC, as well as from The Brooklyn Brewery so I know that the coffee must've been good (it really was). He then asked "where are you from, and real surprised when he knew that we're from Indonesia. "Indonesiaaaaa??" he reacted. (Damn, are we really THAT far away? rarely see Indonesians up there in Japan? This thing also happened when we were in flight).

The bar itself, was filled by many random things from French sofas, rugged long wood table with attached saw on top, antique watch, pop corn machine, wooden boxes, tin cans, ethnic-styled & baroque-styled mirrors, hanging bird-nest-like thingy on ceiling, flowers, parisian posters, botanical prints, paintings, burlap sack, playing cards, mushroom lamp, aaaand the list goes on (it was literally like little shop of treasure game). 

Anyway, got talk a little bit the friendly staff from before, asked where we were staying and stuffs, welcoming another guest (a young woman with huge backpack), and then he let us take pictures and instantly gave us 'discount' on our drinks when he saw me counting coins on the table. One more thing, the ambiance music they played back then, it was like stepping into another world, but somehow relaxing from the cold outside.

Alexandre Plokohov of Helmut Lang x UNIQLO

If you haven't heard this news by now, you might be living in a cave. Newly appointed Helmut Lang designer, Alexandre Plokohov (actually, i don't know who he was), dropped a range of collaborative collection with Japanese retailer, Uniqlo. Honestly, I'm more interested in these rather than those Wang x H&M thing. On the note, these collection will be available real soon at Uniqlo retail locations ranging from US$20 to US$60. 

Opening Ceremony F/W 2014 Collection Lookbook

Recently offered on the netz, the Lookbook for Opening Ceremony's Fall / Winter 2014 Collection. Clean as fck, very well done. Not feeling the clothes though.

Clarks Trigenic Dune VS Mizuno Infinity Ring Moc

Sneaker Freaker recently posted their interview with Prad Indrakumar, one of the men behind Clarks' Sportswear line. On the interview, They talked about the upcoming shoe models, and one of them is this interesting piece of footwear, dubbed the Trigenic Dune (the other one is Trigenic Flex). Looking at it reminds me how Mountain Research & Mizuno came up with some next level casual sporstwear hybrid couple of months ago, under the name of the 007 Infinity Moc. 

"The Desert Boot and Wallabee are signature styles, but there are many others in the Clarks Originals collection worth digging into, such as the Desert Trek and the Weaver. When we started working on the Trigenic project, I wasn't expecting to design a product that could reinvent the brand or become a future classic, however, in light of the positive reaction, it's now starting to dawn on me that this could pave a new way in which we reinterpret concepts from our past at a deeper level"

"I reckon we'll be printing our own shoes, just like burning a CD of music was fifteen years ago. Brands could provide downloadable outsole designs, the consumer then aligns the newly downloaded outsole data to their custom foot dimensions and then simply prints out the unit on a sheet of genetically modified leather."

While you should also check out these nice pair from Mountain Research & Mizuno as well.

Aesthetic-wise, Both shoe got my eyes on, but haven't been able to try Mizuno shoes, and I know how comfy Clarks Sportswear shoes are. If you had to choose, which one will you cop? Me myself, imma cop me some Infinity Ring Moc from Mizuno.

Read more about Clarks Sportswear Trigenic here, and check out Mizuno Infinity Ring Moc, here.