Neat Knit

Apu Jan, the most efficient designer I have ever met, very helpful and polite. I met him right after an interview to another fashion designer, so my mind was rather preoccupied. I was sitting in a small pub round the corner, next to Westfield in Stratford. I had only been there before for the Olympics and I so my expectations of the area were very high. This Taiwanese designer had just returned from Taiwan a week ago and he said that during his stay at home he had read a whole book a day, (like 200 words a minute I think!?) as back in London he reads English books so slowly that when he returns home he sees so many Chinese books, he devours them voraciously.

He has graduated from the Royal College of Arts, where he majored in "Climate and Mythology". I had a very limited knowledge of knitting, how can knitwear be a course in fashion schools I asked myself? He showed me his heavy duty knitting machine and he told me before he came to England he spent two months working in a factory in Guangzhou, in the south of China to learn knitting from the highly skilled factory workers. "They are the experts indeed, I learnt much that I would never be able to learn in school, no matter Taiwan or London, the best schools don't really teach you to knit."

Why poo is more important than eat?

Think about our lives, “out” always plays a key role more than “in”. For instance, we all want more money to go into our pockets, but how to spend your money takes a lot more deciding, how and where to spend it. Some people spend money in a bookies, on alcohol, on thousands of clothes that they don’t need, some people spend little money and save them all. Most of us (far away from millionaires, billionaires) are just seeking better ways to balance our finances, live comfortably and have a bit of savings.

A similar situation is with our bodily income, both in and out. We eat every day, and poo them out every day. The ideal daily, morning poo is not happening perfectly for everybody, and people often get problems with it. I am not going to explain why poo is more important, but to give some tips on how to run an ideal daily routine, in another word, how to solve constipation.

First of all we should know what causes constipation, normally this is lack of water and fibre, somehow we just forget to drink water and eat vegetables.

So tip one: Water is core to flush out our bowels. A lot of people don’t like fibrous vegetable, especially celery and cabbage (cabbage produces good farts), that’s okay, eat prunes! They are delicious, low in calories, and helpful to drag your poo out.

Tip two: Drink water after you wake up, before you get up. If you can’t guarantee to drink a lot of water daily, then you better drink water at the right times. One big glass of water after you wake up before you get up, and then roll your body left and right a few times, normally 10-20 minutes later you will need to make a good poo.

Tip three: Drink a cup of coffee with your breakfast. Coffee is very helpful to push your poo out of your body in the morning.

Tip four: Please never hold your poo, whenever you need, try to get rid of it, they are bad toxins and the longer they are stuck in your body the worse it is and the more likely you block the toilet.

Tip Five:All in all, eat more fibrous food, and drink at least 1.5L water or squash (not fizzy water). Th is of course, good for you. Moreover, eat fibrous food in a happy mood, depression and anxiety also cause constipation.

Happy Poooooo!

THE China Girl in London- Du YANG

THE China Girl -Du YANG, needless to say her designs   are outstanding. Chinese fashion magazine iLOOK's November issue did a feature on her work and her life- "Do Yang- Be yourself".

BLINK slim dress
Open your eyes or close your eyes

Fashion designer Du Yang has been reported world wide in fashion magazines, TV and blogs. From first impressions, she seems similar with other Chinese artists I have interviewed. She is a mid-30s Chinese lady from the north east of China. People from the north east of China are famous for their humour, blunt speech, and funny accent. Du Yang doesn't have an accent, she speaks perfect mandarin with a little Beijing accent, due to a few years studying in Beijing Tsing Hua Universit and in every sentence she adds a few English words, showing her entire background in her speech.

In her new studio in west London, she has three Chinese intern students working for her at this moment, which makes the whole apartment look very Oriental. 

She is in love with travelling, without plans; she just packs some clothes and points out a way and off she goes. She said travelling is inspiring, enjoying new experiences, or like putting oneself into a book to create a story. These are just like her designs, they all tell stories, and are designed to make people laugh, just like the designer.

Superman Superbat

Miss Bunny iPad bag

2013 Sping Summer