Happy Father's Day 2021. The parent-child relationship is a theme I've enjoyed in many LoP stories. I'd like to take a moment to celebrate some of the Stand-Up Dads in the LoP Community! 🙏
@Arik Marmorstein 
@Rotem 

More Father's Day Stories:
#LoP Discussion Room

Lens of Passion

Arik Marmorstein

Rotem

LoP Discussion Room

Happy Father's Day 2021. The parent-child relationship is a theme I've enjoyed in many LoP stories. I'd like to take a moment to celebrate some of the Stand-Up Dads in the LoP Community! 🙏 @Arik Marmorstein  @Rotem   More Father's Day Stories: #LoP Discussion Room

Christian

https://lensofpassion.com/tattoo-artist-luke-satoru-shares-evolution-of-a-passion-in-the-art-time-continuum/

Tattoo Artist, Luke Satoru shares evolution of a passion in the art-time continuum

Luke Satoru’s laugh is infectious. Hours after the interview I can still hear it. It makes me smile. I mean, not the actual laughter, but the vibrations of his humor and benevolence. The level of openness and sincerity he emanated from the three times we spoke has presumably raised the bar for the connectivity industry.



Satoru is an aesthete who has dedicated his time, the most valuable commodity, to building meanings through illustration, film restoration, jewelry, textile design, and his first love – tattooing. Satoru was a competitive swimmer recruited by Columbia University but with a childhood dream so firmly held, he went to college in New York City studying art. Two decades later, after much inquiry into life, Satoru presently sits at Elefin Coffee in Phra Nakhon, Bangkok, right below his tattoo shop, generously sharing with me his story with passion. It is a special treat interviewing the decorated artist for the second issue of Lens of Passion, there is an abundance to deliberate.







LoP: Thank you so much for joining us on Lens of Passion. It is an honor to meet you and explore your passion timeline today.

Luke Satoru: Thank you for the opportunity. [grins] I read the first issue and I appreciate the diversity and approach you take to reflect great minds.

On this platform, we try to examine the word passion and add fuel to our audience’s endeavor by showcasing people who have a distinct idea what it is for them. What does passion mean to you?

Something that challenges you. It’s not meant to be easy. You persevere, you engage. It has a burning spirit. Once passivity kicks in, it does not work.

What color do you see when you hear passion?

It would be black. It’s the absorption or reflection of everything. Like a black hole…it consumes.

What is it for you?

The process of active-creating regardless of medium. When I paint, the expression reaches a broader audience, while tattooing is intimate and personal. I find joy in all of them.



My passion can also prosper through a commercial endeavor. I worked in film restoration, jewelry and textile design. I certainly find the communication more transparent when art is linked to a product, something people can use and inherit. Although my education at NYU disillusioned a few things, I learned that when art lives in a physical or functional form – a product, say a skateboard, it can have a life outside of me and the spirit continues.

I’m just really passionate about creating connections, to communicate something from within outward.













February 2020 – Satoru at Aloft Hotel Seminyak, Bali, working on a wall-painting commission covering 50 square meters. The artist completed the artwork in 9 days.



Maturing of a freehand-painted skate deck created by Satoru, titled Deck01 2020

How did it all begin?

Going back to the idea of communication – I was a very shy kid, the invisible kid in school. [laughs]

Drawing was my thing and I got positive attention from my good drawing. I was into outer space, classic movie monsters, comic book characters, then I got into graphic design and graffiti stuff from there.

My parents were first-generation Americans and we didn’t have big social circles in the US outside of the family. My mom is Japanese and my father is Thai-Chinese so as a mixed kid with this very hyphenated identity, there was a whole lot of not fitting in. For me, tattoos were things I wasn’t born with but I could adopt…I could possess. There was a sense of empowerment, be it a private or public gesture.

Tattooing my body was a decision I made for myself, an identity I chose and not dictated at birth. It transcended the hangups I experienced in all those primary, formative years so the base of my affinity for tattoos started there and has been evolving ever since.

Satoru’s tattooing station

As you shared earlier you’re a man of many worlds. Can you speak to the crystallization of Luke Satoru.

I’m on the outside looking in. Growing up it was clear to me I wasn’t exclusive enough to be part of anything. My family of origin had the Asian-American spirit of two generations reconciling realities. On the bright side, often it feels like my ethnicity and heritage help me understand the world better but I don’t take credit for this capability.



When I share my work with strangers, they’d have designated comments like comic books, Japanese, etc. when the art never looks strictly one to me personally. And I’m comfortable with that. The diversity within me can be enabling, now that I’m older, I no longer need validation from people to feel I have or need a particular place.

Were your parents into art, or tattoos?

They appreciate art and my father certainly has a great eye for things. They do not like tattoos but they have accepted them. My mom shows her support discreetly, she’d pick up cool Japanese head wraps for me everytime she goes back to Japan. I like to wear it around my neck when I work.



What were your first contacts with tattoos?

At 12, I saw a panther tattoo on an old man’s forearm at the Pike Place Market in Seattle; got my first tattoo when I was 15 and at 19, I taught myself and did it on a friend of mine.



The tattoo I got in 1995 cost me 500 baht on Khaosan Road (Central Bangkok) and I had it for a week. End of that week, my uncle lasered it off. I got to stay home. [laughs]









When did you know that tattooing was going to be a centerpiece in your life, that you were going to engage it so unreservedly?

I did not know until I paused on tattooing and did other stuff professionally, went full circle and came back to realizing how much I love tattoos. I was 35 at this point and it felt like coming home – natural, comfortable, familiar. The joy I felt with tattooing was immense. I was very lucky to have friends in the industry who supported me, who understood my intention was real and good. That said, I was petrified at the same time because entering the craft comes with pledging commitment and responsibility to it.



How would you describe your tattooing style? What themes are the most fun for you?

Fine line, black and grey, illustrative, Asian mythology. I aspire to create long-lasting, quality work and I try to compose wisely. I love to tattoo animals, nature, mythological beings and folklore. I’ve had a good amount of success doing tigers, they’re very popular in Thailand. I have great fun with them.

Let’s dive deeper. What about tattooing that is so enticing?

There’s a lot to say here! [laughs] It is the pursuit of endlessly improving my craft…the pursuit of excellence; and the joy on my clients’ faces I truly relish.

Internally, tattooing generates a great return that creates intrinsic joy for me; it’s also a journey of betterment and growth in itself. On the external level, I appreciate the connective elements with clients when we collaborate as a team to get the tattoos done well. A good day’s work is really satisfying.



As for the receiving end, aesthetically I love how they look on my body; psychologically it is a discourse for rebellion, empowerment, perspectives and evolution. I do not look at tattooing as a permanent thing, you go through changes in life and tattoos vary in timestream. I enjoy observing the wear and tear, notice how they and I age.



Beautifully said. What is the role of passion in the work you do?

Active-tattooing radiates from it. On site, I experience great joy focusing entirely on the exchanges – of energy between me and the clients, learning about their story, health condition, temperament; and my interaction with the machine, ink, skin. The process is an interactive, two-way street that requires a high level of consciousness.



And, behind the scene, there’s a lot of research, drawing, practice and critique that are being done daily, non-stop. Passion is beyond what you can visually see.

Hiroko 2020, digital drawing inspired by a Japanese/Parisian model from the 1960-70’s

Mastodon 2020, digital drawing inspired by one of Satoru’s favorite bands of the same name

Music skeleton, tattoo design inspired by children’s animation from the 1930’s.

Satoru shares his intention, “Satan before falling was the angel of music, his torso was a harp which brought joy to heaven. The animation from the 1930’s depicts an orchestra of skeletons playing music. My version is a little more sinister and style in which it’s drawn is different. The history of the actual animators also has a tie to anti-semitism so I’m wanting to subvert that negative history.”

What were the major hurdles in your journey finding and sticking to what you love? How did you navigate through the nays?

My parents were first-generation immigrants. They were busy so there was an absence of structures in my upbringing. When I wanted to go to NYU and had never been to New York before, my father who worked there in the ‘70s, said I was too soft for it. I had to prove to everybody, including myself, that my dream was a valid want. NYU was the only school I applied to, I was that determined because the city, comic books and street art had mesmerized me. Eventually, I got into their studio art program and the first year was freaking intense!

Now with tattooing, I was incredibly anxious when I first started but the joy I absorbed from active-tattooing powered me through the tough part of the trajectory. I needed to be humble, confident and head-strong all at the same time to persevere through hardships. I guess to summarize it is a combination of arrogance and humility that got me good. And the support from my wife and kids too, for sure, they keep me focused.

The youngest of Satoru’s three boys especially likes to visit the studio to hangout. All of them enjoy the arts.

How do your kids support you?

Around the time when my firstborn was 2 to 3 years old, he was old enough to ask me to draw something for him, monsters and dinosaurs sort of stuff. It was the first real act that bonded us, father and son, and for each child the connection was the same. My kids brought back drawing for sheer enjoyment and fun for me because at that point I drew for functional purposes at work. They gave me an ikigai moment and my ikigai has only grown since.

My storytelling has definitely improved too. My youngest one is three now and I make up stories for him. They are regulars at the shop – we do our projects, I make their Halloween costumes. My mom handmade a superman cape for me when I was a kid and I’ve inherited this little tradition. I made awesome DJ Marshmallow helmets for mine this year!





Other than DJ Marshmallow helmets, Satoru also made this set of Halloween-inspired drawing and brought Boris Karloff as Frankenstein’s Monster to life

To backtrack a bit, you moved to Bangkok in 2006. Has the change of geographical location impacted any part of you, and your passion?

Huge impact. I got married here and my children were born here. This has been the first large bulk of time I am able to play witness to my Thai side of heritage in a sincere way. Here, I appreciate the rich cultures of Japanese and Thai iconology more. I go deeper into research of love, practices of mind and so forth, which keeps things super exciting. I am familiar with customs in Thailand and I adhere to all of them. It has helped me become even more aware and polite.

Artistically speaking, I continue to be multifaceted. I don’t have to strictly be an Asian or American artist.

Satoru’s sketch process of a Japanese Yokai called “Nue”, an evil entity that represents the coming of a disaster.

The arrows are there to represent a muting of our fears of the unknown, tranquilizing the demon in the mind.

Satoru’s design comes alive.

Can you tell us about Black Pig Tattoo Bangkok?

I started the shop in 2016. We are three full-time tattooists working here and during non-COVID times we’d have guest artists with us almost every month. The original location was in Bangkrat and now we’re closer to Old Town, Grand Palace and the main river.

My business is a four-storey operation: 1/F is a Thai restaurant and cafe, 2/F and 3/F is Bed and Breakfast, 4/F is the tattoo shop. The entire space is professional, comfortable and friendly. There’s a lot of laughing.

Black Pig Tattoo on Maharat Road, Bangkok

If your life were a tattoo, what would it be?

A phoenix, which is on my back. Well, that’s what my ideal would be, my wife or best friend may tell you a different image! [laughs]

You know, ashes, rebirth, continual, renewal, reaching a better version of myself, let live through forgiveness. I’m not a perfect being, I make mistakes and I always come back.



While we are generally more relaxed about body modifications, they are still considered deviant in some cultures. What is your experience?

I get pulled over often so profiling does happen but it does not bother me. I can get away with covering up with say, a suit. There are people out there who have to deal with much bigger struggles.



The word passion comes from Latin root pati-, meaning suffering, or enduring. Bleeding is inextricable in your craft. How do you view pain?

The reward feels greater because you endure the suffering and survive.



Researchers study harmonious and obsessive passion, love and limerence. Where is the sweet spot?

It’s hard to succeed without passion but too much of it may destroy you. You need the control. I’m trying to find that desirable place too, with my family and business.



Coming back to your passion, what is the next chapter?

On the personal, creative level, I would love to establish my own style of Thai-Japanese, really finding a way to melt the two and make it easily recognized, “Oh that’s Luke Satoru!”. I’m not quite there yet but it is starting to show. On the work level, I want to create a healthy, positive work space where everyone is doing well. I like to see people succeed.



If you could collaborate with anyone, in any field, for any cause, what would the #1 project idea be?

Living or dead?



Either.

Oh my goodness, that’s terrible! [laughs] There are so many people I’d love to meet but I guess to work with might be a different thing so…



Nina Simone, the classical pianist, jazz singer who was very prophetic in the civil rights movement. All of her life, what she represented, are so beautiful. I’d love the opportunity to hear her speak, listen to her thoughts and get creative direction from her. I think it would be an extremely challenging collaboration but if I can create a commissioned piece, guided by her art direction, no matter what it is, I’ll do it.



Can you share a word of advice to people out there who love art but are told there is little future in it?

If you are passionate about something that does not pay the bills, my advice is work and make money to a point where you have freedom to choose. Pragmatism to an extent helps build the dream and with the freedom I mentioned, you don’t have to compromise your art. It was a lesson I had to learn too.



Thank you for taking the time to share your story with us.

Last question: Is there a message you want to post to the world?

Be good to each other. It does not mean you have to agree on everything but do take time to absorb, reflect and see if you can expand on people’s understanding too.

My artistic practice drives me to understand my clients and the world, it is perspective building. I believe people share more similarities than differences.



You can connect with Luke personally and find out more about Black Pig Tattoo at:

https://www.instagram.com/luke_satoru/

https://www.instagram.com/black_pig_tattoo/

https://www.facebook.com/blackpigtattoobkk/

Luke Satoru



Author’s note:

Interviewing Luke Satoru was a gift, one that lasts a few Christmases.

Legend has it, in solitary and from the ashes,

a sacred bird can self-regenerate and transform

from pain to a newer, truer existence.

Perhaps we all can.



Dear Readers,



Where are you in your creative, reinventing process?



We look forward to connecting with you. You can subscribe to Lens of Passion in the lower right corner, or follow us on https://www.instagram.com/lensofpassionofficial/ See you soon.

LoP

Tattoo Artist, Luke Satoru shares evolution of a passion in the art-time continuum

https://lensofpassion.com/kostas-haralas-the-merits-of-a-measured-life/

Kostas Haralas: The Merits of a Measured Life

The bustling metropolis of Thessaloniki is Greece’s second largest city and boasts a population of almost a million people. In contrast, the long and narrow island of Evia, or Euboea, has less than 200,000 inhabitants. The island is considered “almost invisible on the travel radar”; a secret that the Greeks keep to themselves. Today, in the pandemic age, to move from a big city to a fairly remote island village seems sensible, prescient even. To do so in 2001 was considered folly. But Kostas Haralas is used to being a contrarian. In fact, he has made it his profession to go against the tide and, as a result, often finds himself ahead of the times.

Having majored in marketing, Haralas started a career in advertising but quit and moved to North Evia in 2001 in order to become a full-time writer and professional beekeeper. Since then, Haralas has written 17 books for children and young adults and won several distinctions, including a State Literature Prize, and awards from the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

I ask him if he finds going against the grain difficult and lonely? “Yes, of course, it is isolating,” he replies, “That is, in essence, the meaning of it. But everyone who wishes to be a contrarian comes armed with the needed artillery of being able to disregard the norms and ignore the naysayers. The truly hard part is to see if, and how, your decision is really the right one. For me, it has been ten long years; ten creative years yet ones in which I had to be patient. I watched how Western society was shaping itself and it did not make sense to me to work like crazy and succumb to corporate burnout at thirty. Deliberately, I chose a different path. I feel that it is the same with what I write about. I observe society around me and I try to point out the things that don’t make sense in an easily accessible way that is rooted in philosophy.”



Haralas’ newly published book, ‘Sleeping In’

He writes in Greek and also has two translations of his work in Korean. His latest book, published in 2020 and titled Sleeping In, is about a boy who has trouble waking up for school. His mother despairs until she realises what a full schedule her son has. It is a topic that being a parent myself, I can relate to. There is a tendency among modern parents to feel that our role is to fill every waking moment of our children’s lives. In New York, when my son was two years old, well-meaning friends asked me why I had not signed him up yet for music appreciation classes, making me worried that I’d doomed my firstborn to a life without melody or meaning! It is not considered abnormal to administer intelligence tests to four-year-olds for kindergarten admissions and you feel that you’ve no choice but to adhere to societal demands. That just as we adults participate in the rat race; our progeny, too, must follow.

‘Η Συγνωμομηχανή’ (‘The Sorrymachine’) was translated into Korean

But Haralas is unwilling to blindly buy into such expectations. “At a young age, I realised that the relationship between parent and child carries an element of oppression. The question is which way it flows. I decided that I would not be the one oppressed so I questioned everything. And I continue to do so. My parents were not great readers so my initial interest in reading everything that I encountered, even if it was on the back of a toothpaste, was as an act of rebellion,” he says. This act of rebellion helped him to go on to become, as he terms it, “a professional observer” of human nature.

I ask him if he has a message for today’s children and he laughs, “It might be heretical to say this but there is nothing wrong with the children. That’s not where the problem lies.” In his view, children are much more attuned to imagination and their true nature than adults so pointing out life’s absurdities in his books is to help them come to terms with the things that they probably already recognise as being so. “In a way, I write for the parents. What I aim to do is to put question marks around our actions and our thoughts. If through my work, I can be the catalyst to a conversation between parent and child, which leads them to find solutions together, then I consider my job well done.”

Today, he feels that the important creational link between parent and child is being sacrificed in people’s quest for more. “As a parent, the time we have with our children is precious and we have to be present for them. But our social structures do not allow for this. Both parents work long hours and are absent from the home. They’ve little time. But we have a huge responsibility to listen to the children. They are the future and it is only through them that change for the better will come. Today, however, there are no ears for the younger generation. If only we paid more attention to them, it would be a game changer for all of us.”

And he does not believe the answer lies in making the children as busy as their parents. “This is an intense experience of childhood that we are asking of our kids – so many activities and things to do and be. In Greece, it is common for children to study three or more languages. Instead, they should be slowing down. They need to hang out more, look out the window, count the stars in the sky, be still, observe.”

Before our meeting, I looked him up online. I notice that he joined Twitter in 2015 but only has 22 followers. He’s surprised by this but not for the reasons I assume. He laughs as he asks, “Who follows someone who never tweets?!” Safe to say that Haralas is not active on social media. He gleefully mentions the number of Facebook friends that he has. “Commercially speaking, that would be considered suicide. But I’m with Sasha Baron Cohen who is ringing the bells on how democracy is threatened by social media. Too much power has been transferred too quickly to too few.”

Rather than despair about this like most of us, Haralas returns to the notion of responsibility. “Ultimately, it’s a matter of choice. Our environment is bombarding us with false meanings, false needs. What do you choose to do? Are you accepting it or are you building an immune system against it? At the end of the day, it is up to us.” He applies this to his beekeeping trade as well, choosing to sell his produce locally. “I don’t export because I have an eco-driven perception of commerce. I sell my organically produced honey here on the island. This doesn’t mean that I am against globalisation but I do think that we can slow down our pace of production and better rationalise our resources. It is madness to source ingredients from one location, blend in another, process in yet another part of the world, and finally, distribute somewhere completely different! We have to ask ourselves if this is what we really need to be doing.”

He credits his life by the ocean for his approach. “One of my greatest realisations was achieved on one of my evening strolls along the sea. As I watched the tide come in and out, I thought of the concept of a blood chain – you know who your parents are and where you come from, and you have children so you know where you are going. At that moment, a great peace came to me. I am grateful for my life now, not because of something specific that happened, but because of what has been revealed to me about this journey. It is a process. For this to go well, you have to have time and you have to bring a certain energy with you.”

“This is the tank of inspiration near my summer house,” Haralas says

To see more of Kostas’s work and connect with him, please visit his website:

http://www.kostasharalas.wixsite.com/eubiomelo

Kostas Haralas

What does it mean to you, personally, to be a contrarian? Are you one yourself or do you have examples in your own life? If you’re on Instagram, our account was born a few days ago. Let’s connect:

https://www.instagram.com/lensofpassionofficial/ Any comments, enquiries,

we can be reached at [email protected].

Kostas Haralas: The Merits of a Measured Life

https://lensofpassion.com/arik-marmorstein-making-the-job-market-autism-friendly/

Arik Marmorstein: Making the job market autism-friendly

Aqsa Syeda

Arik Marmorstein – the name behind Spectroomz. He is a Law graduate by education, an entrepreneur at heart and a father on a mission. Marmorstein discerned his entrepreneurial spirit back in 2011 when he founded ‘Mimoona’, an Israel-based crowdfunding platform and propitiously ran it till 2019. Soon after that, in the beginning of 2020, he was chosen (by life, in his own words) to begin his odyssey on Spectroomz.

Marmorstein at a conference for educating employers about Autism



This article addresses a pressing issue prevailing in our society that I believe is being overlooked – unemployment and career challenges faced by people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), among those many of them seem to look and behave just fine.

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental condition which puts the people in a bubble of various troubles. People with autism have difficulty in social interactions, communication, and exhibit repetitive behaviors. Some people face challenges in maintaining normal conversations which further affects their relationship building. Some face issues in imparting appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses in social situations. They also have difficulty in facial expressions and maintaining eye contact. Due to these predicaments, and in some cases very well-hidden, these people are seen with deficits and restrictions in relationship building and communication consistency.

By the year 2019, 540,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with autism spectrum conditions while 433,000 were aged 18-plus. Compared to their peers, people with ASD tend to face unemployment or underemployment, even for those who are intellectually gifted.

The statistics in the United States, supported by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and NIMH (The National Institute of Mental Health Information Resource Center), show that 1 in 54 children has been identified with ASD. This is a condition that is found across all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, and boys (3.0%) are 4 times more likely to associate with this neurological and developmental challenge than girls (0.7%).

The story of Spectroomz

Arik Marmorstein’s passion for working with autistic adults was born with the ASD diagnosis of his son. As soon as the emotional aspects were processed, he went on a journey to explore the reality his child was going to face. He approached autistic adults to know the major difficulties and upon inquiring, he realized that unemployment, job interviews and walking into traditional workplaces are the major stumbling blocks faced by people with autism. This is when Marmorstein’s entrepreneurial spirit, love of a father and the idea of Spectroomz emerged. He created the solution he wanted to see.

Since that day, he has been working day and night on Spectroomz, building an accessible, functional and helpful platform to help autistic adults find jobs and build workplace capabilities.

Spectroomz is currently reaching heights with approximately 20,000 visitors to the website monthly. There are 1,600 subscribers up till now and is moving towards further success. The seed for Spectroomz was sown in the beginning of 2020 and in the past year, this reality-based innovative solution is catching the traction it well-deserves.

I am a psychologist and a career counselor based in Islamabad. My curiosity was at peak to explore Spectroomz and how it helps autistic adults, caught between the neurodevelopmental maze and real-world nuances. When life gave him lemon, he made lemonade. Arik Marmorstein took this challenge as an opportunity to support not only one child (of his) but all autistics. Now, Spectroomz does not only target appropriate remote jobs for autistics, there are also career capacity building courses, ASD awareness sessions designed for employers, and a support group mechanism forming for parents and people who are interested in the subject. In a nutshell, the stoic father is creating space for all the stakeholders involved in the picture, to learn, understand, accept and succeed.

To go the extra miles for his passion, instead of charging fixed prices for the courses and training, Spectroomz has implemented a “pay what you can” policy. Marmorstein wants to help eliminate hurdles for the audience he serves, including the financial ones.

Spectroomz believes that “People on the (ASD) Spectrum have a room in the workplace”

An SEO course taught by Arik Marmorstein

Spectroomz makes employment and workplace training accessible and affordable for autistic adults

The name

“Spectroomz is a combination of two words – spectrum and rooms. The spectrum here refers to the autism spectrum while room signifies the thought that despite the lack of appropriate social skills, people with ASD can have a room in the workplace,” said Marmorstein. This beautifully portrays that the imperfect communication skills do not mean low standards of work. There are many jobs that require less social interaction, usually online and home-based, that are well-suited for autistics, who can be intellectually gifted.

Passion and motivation

Currently, Arik Marmorstein’s passion is “to help autistic adults get employed”. This endeavor is supported by a deep-rooted passion he long has, “to grow stuff”, in his words. He has been an entrepreneur for 10 years.

From the interview, I got the impression that Marmorstein does not follow any ideals but his own sense of mission. He views passion as the purpose of life and right now he states that he has mixed feelings about “driving the universe” to create a better outlook for adults with ASD, he feels extremely satisfied and highly emotional.

Arik Marmorstein’s message to the world

“Embrace diversity. It is good for business too.”



To learn more about Arik’s project and courses, please visit:

https://www.spectroomz.com/

https://www.spectroomz.com/seo-course

To join Lens of Passion’s community chatroom, please find instructions here.

Arik Marmorstein

Lens of Passion

Christian

A group of likeminded people in LoP Daily Inspirations are talking about this.