London with Lizzie: Japanese Architecture, Covent Garden and Skinnydip

I dragged my sister up to London to see a couple of exhibitions: Japanese architecture since 1945 at the Barbican and "anime architecture" at the house of illustration, and we also squeezed in some shopping~ I love Japan, architecture and anime, so it seemed like a perfect game plan.

Ok first of all, I am obsessed with the architecture of the Barbican- I love modernist 20th century architecture, the uglier and more concrete the better. It's kind of like why I love Japanese architecture. They actually do architecture tours of the area, and I might go do one some time! I'd love to bring my actual camera along and practise photography too, these are just some phone snaps.

The actual exhibition was really well done too- it was a bit difficult to photograph due to the low-ish lighting (and I only bought my phone not my DSLR), but I did my best! There was a full size replica of the Moriyama house in Tokyo by Nishizawa Ryue, which was gorgeously styled with loads of plants and books- and there was a teahouse and garden designed by Fujimori Terunobu which was super whimsical. right up my street basically.

Gutted that I only took a picture of the inside of the tea house, but it was so pretty and cute- something about Fujimori's aesthetic is so whimsical, cute and childlike. It's like straight out of a picture book. The Barbican have a great picture on their blog.

As well as the Moriyama house, a tea house and a really cool garden-area, there was a documentary of the Moriyama house, some other film footage along with photographs and small models of lots of different information on traditional and modern Japanese architecture.

Some of the little things in the exhibition made me feel sooo nostalgic for Japan- look at the plastic conbini umbrella!!!

My instagram story at the time sums up my feelings perfectly:

(p.s. I'm @candyflossoverkill on instagram)

But overall, it was really cool- it made me aware of so many other cool architects other than just Ando Tadao and Kisho Kurokawa. And it made me determined to collect more plants. But you knew that already.

After the Barbican, we headed over to the House of Illustration which is near CSM at Kings Cross. We both had a cheeky swing on the birdcage swing outside Kings Cross Station, too.

I look like an idiot but I kind of love this photo anyway.

Anime Architecture House of Illustration

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the exhibition, but it was about designing backgrounds of futuristic cityscapes in three iconic anime films- Metropolis, Patlabor and Ghost in the Shell. It was soooo cool to see photographs of places that inspired the artwork (like Hong Kong for Ghost in the Shell), works in progress complete with notes and the director's stamps of approval and the finished hand painted backgrounds. The artwork was so insanely detailed. Loved it.

After that, we headed to Covent Garden. I hadn't been shopping in Covent Garden for so long, and I'd forgotten how cute it was!

I also got to the Skinnydip store! Everything about it was so aesthetically pleasing. My phone case is the melon one by skinnydip, which I posted about way back in my autumn favourites. I've had it for almost a year, and it's still going strong :)

I bought these earbuds, which are super cute (if a little pricy at £18). I loooove Skinnydip's vibe though! desperate to get a skinnydip planner for next year. The packaging was so good- millennial pink bag which said Yas queen inside! Sold.