Iwagumi - glass box art T-Shirt

During my youth in the late 1970s and early 80s I made my first experiences with aquariums. Since then, this topic has lain mostly dormant for me as life seems to have been too busy ever since. But it has always remained at the back of my mind somewhere. Only recently, about 40 years later, I rediscovered this old topic. Only to see that eons have passed and that aquariums have taken a quantum leap or two in the meantime. It is not so much about the technology, which has evolved. But it is more about the aesthetics, which have progressed considerably. Being a fan of Japanese art, I discovered that Japanese concepts and designs have become very important in this particular trade. It is about echoing Nature and introducing a certain stylized minimalism in aquatic designs, which has since become the art of aquascaping. One fascinating concept is the Iwagumi style, which literally means „glass box art“. It is characterized by rather stern formations of stones, which are meant to resemble mountain ranges. Those are placed within carpets of underwater moss or other very verdant but largely unobtrusive plants. An art form not unlike Suiseki. My t-shirt design tries to echo this rather austere concept in a playful way.