LANGFORD, B.C. –

When Damon Langlois visited the beach as a boy, he never would have imagined how significant sand would become in his life.

“I never really looked at the sand as an artistic medium,” Damon says.

Back then, Damon preferred drawing people, before growing-up to design products.

“That’s very permanent though,” Damon says. “Whereas sand sculpture is ephemeral.”

But then Damon met a co-worker who sculpted with sand and was invited to try it, he connected with a creative process he calls “intense relaxation.”

“Its just you and the sand and everything washes away,” Damon says.

Even when hundreds of people are watching you.

“I basically dove into the deep-end of competitive sculpting,” Damon smiles.

Damon went on to win five world championships, and earn a Guinness World Record for Tallest Sand Castle, before being hired to travel to Kuwait and design the biggest sand castle park ever made.

“It immersed people in the best stories from the Arabian Nights,” Damon says. “It’s like a graphic novel that you went through.”

Over seven months, Damon researched the stories, and designed dynamic scenes to tell them, before working with more than 70 of the globe’s top talents to build the equivalent of six football fields worth of awe-inspiring wonder.

“You’re looking up at the sculptures that are towering above you and tears were coming from my eyes,” Damon recalls. “I can’t believe this is happening. This is my life’s work.”

And then the storm hit. Damon was told it was the worst in 50 years. It rained relentlessly for three days.

“We watched the park literally get destroyed in front of us,” Damon recalls.

The team was defeated and Damon wondered how they could possibly recover.

“I gave an underdog football coach speech to the team,” Damon laughs. “The Europeans all rolled their eyes and the North Americana where like, ‘Yeah!’”

But like the characters in the epic stories they were sculpting, Damon inspired all the artists to be part of a real-life tale about overcoming adversity.

“It was an opportunity to be heroes,” Damon recalls saying. “To come back from this devastation and still make some things beautiful – which we did.”

Now a decade later, Damon is publishing a book about the project titled “Stories in Sand,” featuring his versions of the Arabian Nights tales, illustrated with pictures from the sculpture park.

“I would say it’s masterpiece of sand sculpture,” Damon says of the team’s work.

And the story behind it is proving to be a master class in resilience, plus — after all the beauty that the artists re-built eventually blew away — a lesson in letting go.

“Nothing is forever,” Damon says. “Everything has its cycle and returns to the earth.” 

ROME –

 Italy’s Ministry of Health has banned the popular wellness trend of “puppy yoga” amid concerns that the puppies used in the practice could be exploited and mistreated.

Typically, sessions involve puppies roaming around a yoga class and sometimes being incorporated in poses.

Giovanni Leonardi, head of the One Health department of Italy’s health ministry, ruled Tuesday that the use of dogs during exercise sessions falls under Italy’s Animal Assisted Interventions act. This means that only adult dogs can now be used in yoga sessions to “protect the health and well-being of the animals, as well as the safety of users.”

The ruling comes following an investigation in March by the popular Italian news show “Striscia la Notizia,” which alleged that puppies were mistreated at various yoga centers and kept in pens between sessions.

Animal rights charity Lega Nazionale per la Difesa del Cane (National League for the Defense of Dogs) filed a complaint with the Italian health ministry after these allegations came to light, telling authorities in documents seen by CNN that the puppies were treated “as if they were gymnastics tools.”

The puppies used in the sessions were transported in boxes or plastic bags, were used for long hours covering multiple sessions, and were not provided water or food to “prevent the dogs from doing their business in the gym,” LNDC alleged, noting that the Striscia la Notizia investigation found that many of the puppies were only 42 days old.

“Given their age, it is highly likely that these puppies had not even completed their vaccination prophylaxis,” the LNDC complaint suggested.

CNN reached out to several Italian puppy yoga centers for comment with no success.

The ruling does not have a legal arena for appeal, a spokesperson for Italy’s health ministry said. “It is the same as any service animal. You would never expect to see a puppy as a sight dog,” the spokesperson told CNN Friday.

LNDC’s President Piera Rosati called the practice “exploitation for commercial purposes that takes no account of the well-being and psychophysical health of creatures who are still too fragile to be treated in this way.”

“At that age, puppies should not have to face travel and stress, but stay in a calm and protected environment under the guidance and care of their mother who can teach them to socialize correctly and to face the outside world with confidence,” Rosati continued.

Elisa Allen, vice president of programs and operations at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) UK, commended Italy for banning puppy yoga in a statement to CNN Friday.

Allen called the practice “a sales gimmick designed to promote the breeding of ‘pedigree’ dogs – who are prone to severe physical problems later in life – and which violates the fundamental principle of yoga: ahimsa, or doing no harm.”

“While governments around the world should take heed, we must not wait to do the right thing: PETA urges yogis to stay away from this cheap ploy that uses sensitive animals as props to their detriment,” Allen said.

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 Deciding on Your Focal Point
Do you have a magnificent bay window with an incredible view?  Is there an ornate mantle that is the reason you fell in love with your home? Or is there something you absolutely MUST HAVE in the room? Situate your furniture around your chosen focal point to create balance and equilibrium. If your room does not already have an existing focal point, create one with oversized art or add an accent point like a free-standing fireplace, they come in a variety of sizes and styles. Symmetrically balance the room evenly so that both sides mirror one another.  This will help your chosen focal point stand out all the more! Use matching accent tables to flank your sofa or use different pieces of furniture to create a copacetic visual impact, like two similar armchairs to balance a sofa.
Repetition for Rhythm
Rhythm creates a flow and helps direct the eye to the differing visual elements in your room. Just as the notes of a favorite song repeat to create the rhythm, repetition in decor will create a rhythm throughout a home. Establish visual interests with a rhythm throughout your space by placing similar colours or patterns at intervals and repeat in artwork, cushions or area rugs.

Perfect Proportion and Suitable Scaling
Who doesn’t love a large, overstuffed chair? But if your room is on the smaller size it may look out of place and make your room seem even smaller than it is. Keep proportion in perspective. Proportion is the ratio between a piece of furniture and the size of a room. Scale is the size of a piece of furniture in relation to the other pieces of furniture in the room. A super large chair will overpower an apartment of loft size sofa or loveseat and create a sense of unbalance in the room.

Have your room humming harmoniously
Creating harmony will enhance how much you will continue to love your finished. Pull the room with a subdued colour palette for a pleasing, harmonious vibe.   together for a pleasing, harmonious look with a subdued color palette. You can also use a single colour for elements that vary in size and shape. Check out our blog on Doing White on White Right! for more tips!

What is the focal point in your room?  What is your best tip to find harmony and balance through your home?