book – japanese design

Listening to Stone Cover Art featured image

A master of what he called “the sculpturing of space,” Isamu Noguchi was an essential figure for modern public art. Noguchi, born to an American mother and a Japanese father, never felt at home anywhere and spent his life creating identities through his sculptures, monuments, and gardens. Read More →

Osamu Tezuka stars featured image

Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989) is widely regarded as the godfather of Japanese manga comics. He originally wanted to be a doctor and earned his degree before turning to what was then a children’s medium. Among his many early masterpieces was the Astro Boy series, which was popular in the United States.Read More →

From Anime to Zen featured image

This user-friendly guide demystifies more than 85 facets of ancient and modern Japan in a succinct yet informative manner. Depending on the situation, it can be read in order or only dipped through. Read More →

Tanaka Ikke cover art featured image

Tanaka Ikko (born 1930 in Nara) is a well-known master of graphic design. His work combines influences from the East and the West, acknowledging the vocabulary of European Modernism while remaining distinctively Japanese.Read More →

Japan Style: Architecture + Interiors + Design

Japanese homes speak to the soul and provide a contemplative environment from which to experience the world.Read More →

Kimono, Vanishing Tradition

Kimono, Vanishing Tradition: Japanese Textiles of the 20th Century. The lovely design of this revised 2nd edition also renders it a “coffee table worthy” purchase or gift. The subject is particularly timely now—since although people have been talking about the Japanese “vanishing” kimono tradition” for years, the most wondrous of the vintage garments from 1970s and prior are now truly an endangered species for kimono aficionadosRead More →

Japonisme_ The Japanese Influence on Western Art Since 1858

The impact of Japan on Western art was as immediate and almost as cataclysmic as the influence of the West on Japanese life. After Commodore Perry opened Japan’s door to the outside world in1858—ending a 200-year period of total isolation—a wealth of visual information from the superb Japanese traditions of ceramics, metalwork, architecture, printmaking, and painting reached the West and brought with it electrifying new ideas of composition, color, and design.
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The Noguchi Museum provides a unique perspective on the artwork of Isamu Noguchi and its setting in the Noguchi Museum through the eyes of renowned photographers Stephen Shore and Tina Barney. Noguchi, a modernist sculptor and designer, founded and designed the museum for the specific purpose of exhibiting his works. Read More →

Japanese Woodblock Prints featured image

A picture is worth a million words… At least that is how people feel when viewing illustrations by a mysterious Japanese performer Avogado6 . The illustrator and movie editor doesn’t share many personal facts about his life. “I am a normal person who likes chemistry,” he writes on his Twitter profileRead More →