"Una vida extraña"

Bookstore black hole ,by nadiatheartist

by Emba

Michie Umezawa’s (@umemichi77) obsession over potted plants stems from three small cactuses, gifted from a gardener at work four and a half years ago. Of those potted plants, “Cacti No. 1” (#サボ一号) remains one of her favorites among the 150 she now keeps at her home in Japan’s Hyogo prefecture. “I never really grew plants until then, nor had I seen an actual cactus flower before,” Michie explains. “I was amazed at the big white flower that bloomed on Cacti No. 1, and that’s how my collection of succulents started.” Michie is drawn to the genus’ slow and gradual development over time. “Each plant has different growth cycles, and I like to take pictures when a plant is in its phase of change — a state I like to call ‘in action.’”

The biggest occupational hazard of working with tiny ferns? “I have to be careful not to sneeze or move too quickly,” illustrator Helen Ahpornsiri (@helenahpornsiri) explains. “The leaves go everywhere.” Many of Helen’s creations consist of anywhere from 50 to 100 individual fern pieces from as many as 20 species collected from her garden in East Sussex, England. Helen transforms her foraged treasures into tiny masterpieces with a wooden flower press she received as a child. “I used to love opening it and finding pieces of summer in the winter,” she recalls. Her advice to other small business owners on Instagram is simple: “Just keep posting pictures,” Helen says. “It’s always great to see progress, so people can see how things are coming along, almost like a story being told.”

“I get to immerse myself in colors at a gentle rhythm,” says Danielle Clough (@fiance_knowles), who only learned how to embroider three years ago. Now, the artist from Cape Town, South Africa, has her own thriving small business. Danielle’s passion for art and design goes far beyond thread and needle; she moonlights as a VJ, creating visuals for electronic music artists and music festivals. “Experimenting with film and editing images has changed the way I see colors, and through embroidery, the slow process of playing with colors has made me much more sensitive to how I treat my images,” Danielle says. Her advice for other small-business owners on Instagram? “Keep your voice and your message honest and sincere. Audiences need to feel included in your world.”

…A touch of light blue!  Italian style by Cassina- Photography by Beppe Brancato.

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50 years ago this week, LIFE magazine ran a color photo essay about Easter Island in the February 6, 1966 issue - “Jutting out of the vast South Pacific, a thousand miles from anywhere, ringed by raging surf and far from shipping lanes, Easter Island is one of the loneliest places on earth.” (Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) #thisweekinLIFE