Hide it in the Hippo!

To be honest, I do not hide anything in any of those drawers, but I know for children (it is a toy after all...) it would be a good place to put their "treasures". I saw it some years ago on display in the window of one of those China-Town-Whole-Sale shops. With: "one of those", I mean shops where you do not impress anybody with orders of less than five hundred pieces. I went inside to ask for the price. The first thing the sales woman told me: "Sorry, only have one!" I told her I was very happy with only one. I think she was happy to get rid of it, because she did not give me the: "you-are-a-bad-customer" look... only giving me the: "you-are-weird-I-feel-sorry-for-you" smile (same smile I sometimes get when I tell people I collect hippos :-)). I normally do not buy these kind of things for my collection. Most of the time I buy figurines made out of wood, bronze or stone. But sometimes, it is  nice to buy something "hippo-y" just for the fun of it. This "spontaneous" splurge costed me a little less than three US$. Sometimes, happiness comes with small and unexpected things or.... hidden in hippos!  

Hippo JJ

About 3 years ago, I met my friends at the Art Section of the JJ Weekend Market (Bangkok - Thailand) for the first time. Mostly painters, but also a very nice artist named Chatchai Suvannachot, who is making metal sculptures. He and his wife have 2 shops at the market (KC Gold Gallery). As you can guess, they display a lot of different animals like horses, dragons, deer, birds and fish.... but no hippos. So I ordered a hippo.... about 3 years ago... but never saw one... as the artist is very busy with large orders. Good for their business of course, but not good for my collection ;-). But then... finally.... last week, my hippo was ready. A belated birthday gift, they told me... and apologies for  having to wait sooo long. Of course, they were forgiven on the spot. Nothing else I could do after falling in love with it at first sight! 

kcgold_gallery@yahoo.com

Hippo Notepads

Some time ago, I found a packet with two notepads... hippo shaped! Only one left that day. Unfortunately no "refills" between future visits. So I went to the website, and sent this lovely Thai Paper Design Studio (PuBB Pa Do WuBB) a kind but urgent message ;-). Would they be so kind to inform me where I could buy more of these packs (as one is certainly not enough :-)). 

They responded very promptly and very kindly that I could order via their e-mail as many packs as I needed... To my surprise it turned out that these notepads come in yellow and green too! Very funny to mention, the company asked whether it was OK for them to mix the colors for my order. I told them that was OK, as long as they would not mix in any other animals!!! A very nice contact person: Khun Nattida (likes hippos too!), perfect and prompt service and within a few days an "any-color-only-hippo" order (including a sweet present) delivered at my door. Sometimes life is just Hippo-Perfect!

PuBB Pa Do WuBB

La Mama

Time for another hippo-painting! I noticed that several of my artist friends at the JJ weekend market (Bangkok - Thailand), master different painting styles. I think it is hard to believe that Mr. Monchai Kosolpradit made both "The Ninth" (see post: The Ninth) AND the painting below. The painting is a copy of a photo found on the internet. He sent me several, and I told him I liked this one best. The baby looks super cute and the details of the mums head are amazing. It is definitely one of those photos I wished I made myself. I hope the photographer recognizes his/her work one day, and will contact me..... In the meantime, I will try finding out who the photographer is, and of course where these cuties live. If I manage, I will put all the information here. I hope the photographer will be even more proud of this amazing shot, it being the inspiration for a wonderful painting by a great artist.