We found ourselves shivering in the crisp winter air on Piccadilly last Thursday, waiting in the queue for the latest Pecha Kucha event, at the Embassy of Japan.

Organised in conjunction with the ICA and The Japan Society, it featured a fantastically varied cast of speakers, as well as some tasty sushi, plenty of Asahi and lashings of sake*.

Jonathan Barnbrook kicked things off with a speedy retrospective of some work he'd done in Tokyo (check out his brilliant identity work for Roppongi Hills and the Mori Arts Centre).

We were also particularly taken with a piece by Maria Marshall, who couldn't attend personally, but whose film 10,000 Frames fit the six minutes and forty seconds time slot perfectly.

We also dug the Trophy Tableware by Emiko Oki, and there was lots of great stuff from the highly productive Julia Lohmann, including her Cow Benches (shown above).

All in all it was a grand evening, and there was even some vague talk of more Pecha Kucha events later in the year, which would be a Very Good Thing Indeed.

*We'd like to add an accent to that, but apparently it doesn't take one. Also, we're not sure if any drink other than ginger ale is allowed to be described with the word 'lashings'... but heck, why not?