Seeds in the Website



I added a list of the seeds I use the most in my designs to the spora website. I got the information about the seeds from this gorgeous book that has just been published in Brazil: Sementes Ornamentais do Brasil / Ornamental Seeds of Brazil, edited by Francisca Portinari Leåo, published by Reler Editor Ltda, Rio de Janeiro, 2008.

It is very nice to have an "official" guide to the seeds. My experience is that people tend to be very creative when they don't know the name of the seeds they are selling!

Check it out: www.sporadesign.com

Why "Amazon"?















Dying Amazon
by Franz von Stuck,1905
(Harvard University)


The name of the Brazilian rainforest comes from the Amazons of Classical and Greek mythology. The Amazons was a nation of brave female warriors who formed an independent kingdom under the government of a queen. In some versions of the myth, no men were permitted to have sexual encounters or reside in Amazon country; but once a year, in order to prevent their race from dying out, they visited a neighbouring tribe.

As per wikipedia, the name Amazon for the rainforest is said to arise from a war which Francisco de Orellana had with a tribe of Tapuyas and other tribes from South America. The women of the tribe fought alongside the men, as was the custom among the entire tribe. Orellana's descriptions may have been accurate, but a few historians speculate that Orellana could have been mistaking indigenous men wearing "grass skirts" for women.

It is interesting that in this painting the amazon is holding her right breast. Wikipidia:

"One of the versions of the myth tells that the roots for the word amazon is from a-(privative) + mazos, "without breast," connected with a tradition that Amazons had their right breast cut off or burn out, so they would be able to use a bow more freely and throw spears without the physical limitation and obstruction; there is no indication of such a practice in works of art, in which the Amazons are always represented with both breasts, although the right is frequently covered."

In this painting the right breast is not covered and on the contrary, it is emphasized by light and by the fact that the Amazon is holding it.

What can Franz von Stuck be trying to tell us...