Designing Design

Designing Design
Author: Kenya Hara
Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2015-01-25
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9783037784501

Representing a new generation of designers in Japan, Kenya Hara (born 1958) pays tribute to his mentors, using long overlooked Japanese icons and images in much of his work. In Designing Design, he impresses upon the reader the importance of emptiness in both the visual and philosophical traditions of Japan, and its application to design, made visible by means of numerous examples from his own work: Hara for instance designed the opening and closing ceremony programs for the Nagano Winter Olympic Games 1998. In 2001, he enrolled as a board member for the Japanese label MUJI and has considerably moulded the identity of this successful corporation as communication and design advisor ever since. Kenya Hara, alongside Naoto Fukasawa one of the leading design personalities in Japan, has also called attention to himself with exhibitions such as Re-Design: The Daily Products of the 21st Century.

100 Whites

100 Whites
Author: Kenya Hara
Publisher:
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2018-10-23
Genre:
ISBN: 9783037785799

The world of white, from Muji art director Kenya Hara White not only plays an important role in Japanese cultures in general but also in the work of Kenya Hara, art director for Muji. In 100 Whites, Hara gives 100 examples of white, such as snow, Iceland, rice and wax. On the basis of these examples he discusses the importance of white in design--not only as a color but as a philosophy. Hara describes how he experiments with the different whites he instances, what they mean in the process of his work and how they influence design today. 100 Whites is the extension of Hara's previously published book White. The publication explores the essence of white, which Hara sees as symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer, a professor at the Musashino Art University and, since 2002, the art director for Muji. Hara has been awarded many prizes, such as the Japanese Cultural Design Award.

Ex-formation

Ex-formation
Author: Kenya Hara
Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9783037784662

For Kenya Hara, design begins with comprehension of the unknown. In contrast to 'information,' 'exformation' describes how little we really know and thus becomes the starting point for any type of design. Based on a range of projects the book describes what 'exformation' can look like in design practice and how this conceptalters our classic understanding of information design. Following the path embarked on in Designing Design (2007) and its successor, White (2010), Ex-formation continues to explore the void, absence, and indeterminacy in contemporary design.

WA: The Essence of Japanese Design

WA: The Essence of Japanese Design
Author: Stefania Piotti
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2014-04-14
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9780714866963

Explore the enduring beauty of Japanese design through some 250 objects, ranging from bento boxes, calligraphy brushes, and Shoji sliding doors to Noguchi’s Akari lamp, the iconic Kikkoman soy sauce bootle, and a modern‐day kimono designed by Issey Miyake. Printed on craft paper and bound in the traditional Japanese style, WA features stunning, full‐page illustrations and an introduction by MUJI art director Kenya Hara.

House Vision

House Vision
Author: Kenya Hara
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN: 9783037783849

In front of the backdrop of recent disasters Kenya Hara founded the platform "house vision" in order to contemplate possible new ways of living in the post-industrial age, while at the same time combining sustainable architecture with the latest technology. Containing essays by renowned architects and artists, House Vision continues where the eponymous exhibition left off. Toyo Ito, the winner of this year's Pritzker Prize, develops a vision of a house for a nostalgic future. Sou Fujimoto invents a "Powerhouse," which unites all electronic applications in itself; the fl ower artist Makoto Azuma designs walls with plants, and Hiroshi Sugimoto invokes native materials, using them to design futuristic ways of living. This publication sheds light on this Japanese project from a western standpoint, offering generally applicable ideas for architecture and life in the future. With contributions by Makoto Azuma, Masataka Baba, Joshiaki Fujimori, Sou Fujimoto, Kenya Hara, Kunio Harimoto, Atsumi Hayashi, Hidemitsu Hori, Akira Ichikawa, Jun Inokuma, Toyo Ito, Masaaki Kanai, Norio Kanayama, Kengo Kuma, Muneaki Masuda, Toshiharu Naka, Yuri Naruse, Ban Shigeru, Hirokazu Suemitsu, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Naoya Toida, Sadao Tsuchiya, Riken Yamamoto, Hiroya Yoshizato.

Where They Create: Japan

Where They Create: Japan
Author: Kanae Hasegawa
Publisher: Frame Publishers
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2016-11-01
Genre: Photography
ISBN: 949231102X

Featuring the work of photographer Paul Barbera, this book documents creativity in 32 Japanese studios. Photographer Paul Barbera presents his next volume in the Where They Create series – this time with a different approach, by exploring the theme of his series through geographical locales. Reinvigorated by his first visit to Japan in five years, he makes this country the starting point of this new volume. Through the lens of creative spaces, Barbera chronicles his journey as he uncovers how contemporary Japanese design, art and creative thinking, has influenced and inspired the world (and vice versa). Barbera's search is simple and clear: he only visits the studios of people whose work he loves and admires, and who have inspiring spaces. For this book, Barbera was invited to shoot the studios of 32 creatives like Anrealage, Kengo Kuma, Wonderwall, Nendo, Tadao Ando, Tokujin Yoshioka, Toyo Ito and many more. Interviews with these creators reveal how their daily environment influences their output. Features Successor to the first portfolio book of Paul Barbera, which was an inspiring publication created out the successful weblog (wheretheycreate.com)The subjects of this book come from all walks of life artists, architects and graphic designers to fashion designers and a flower artists – with engaging stories of how they have arrived at ‘where they create’.The book provides a rare view into the surroundings of some of the greatest Japanese creative minds of our time.Additional interviews with experts on Japanese design shed some light and personal insights on the country’s creative thinking.

Super Potato Design

Super Potato Design
Author: Mira Locher
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2012-05-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1462906044

Super Potato Design is the first full-length book to present the work and conceptual ideas of the internationally renowned Japanese design firm Super Potato, founded by Takashi Sugimoto. Super Potato's powerful designs for the interiors of restaurants, shops and hotels, as well as Takashi Sugimoto's designs for tea ceremony spaces and utensils, are richly complex compositions of materials which create simple, strong spaces. Using traditional Japanese building materials such as bamboo, wood, and stone, but crating original yet timeless spaces, Super Potato's designs avoid specific stylistic characterizations and short-lived fashion. By finding contemporary expression for important concepts present in traditional Japan and combining materials in unexpected ways to create exciting spaces, Super Potato's work has had a significant impact on interior design in Japan and throughout Asia. Super Potato Design is generously illustrated with 320 full-color photographs by the respected Japanese photographer Yoshio Shiratori, who has recorded Super Potatos projects since the firm's conception in 1973. Architect and Japan scholar Mira Locher introduces the ideas and influences of Takashi Sugimoto, the founder and principle designer of Super Potato, and provides a thorough explanation of each project. Architectural drawings further describe the projects. A forward by Tadao Anso, interviews between Takashi Sugimoto and architect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama, and also graphic designer Kenya Hara, explore the ideas relevant to Japanese designers today. A list of the Complete Works of Super Potato rounds off the book.

Japanese Design Since 1945

Japanese Design Since 1945
Author: Naomi Pollock
Publisher: ABRAMS
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2020-11-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9781419750540

The first book to present a comprehensive overview of postwar Japanese design For the Japanese, the concept of design is not limited to functionality or materiality--it is deeply connected with ancient culture and rituals. In this sense, a chair is much more than what you sit on, a cup more than what you drink from: these objects are to be reflected upon, to be touched and cherished. As mass manufacture became widespread in the post-war period, fascinating cross-cultural exchanges began to take place between Japan and the West. And in recent years, a new generation of designers has taken Japanese creativity into entirely new territory, reconceptualizing the very meaning of design. Showcasing over 80 designers, hundreds of objects, and contributions from both Japanese and Western designers inspired by Japan, this volume will remain the definitive work on the subject for many years to come.

White

White
Author: Kenya Hara
Publisher: Lars Muller Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2010
Genre: Aesthetics, Japanese
ISBN: 9783037781838

The latest publication by designer Kenya Hara following his acclaimed Designing Design. White is not a book about color. It is rather the author's attempt to explore the essence of "white," which he sees as being closely related to the origin of Japanese aesthetics--symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. The central concepts discussed are emptiness and the absolute void. Kenya Hara also sees his work as a designer as a pure form of communication. Good communication has the distinction of being able to listen to each other, rather than to press one's opinion onto the opponent. Kenya Hara compares this form of communication with an "empty container." In visual communication, there are equally signals whose signification is limited, as well as signals or symbols such as the cross or the red circle on the Japanese flag, which--like an "empty container"--permit every signification and do not limit imagination. It is not only the fact that the Japanese character for white forms a radical of the character for emptiness that has prompted him to closely associate the color white with the state of emptiness. This book offers a personal insight into the philosophy of the successful designer and author of Designing Design.

Graphic Japan

Graphic Japan
Author: Natalie Avella
Publisher: Rotovision
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2004
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9782880467715

From the kitsch cuteness of Hello Kitty to the cult of manga and anime, Japanese design has long paved the way for the West to follow. Graphic Japan goes beyond this well-known territory to reveal the myriad styles of design produced in Japan today, from packaging to posters, and typography to new media. Contemporary Japanese graphic design is a unique collision of traditional cultural influences and a focused thrust toward modernization on global terms, and the book reflects this marriage of tradition and hypermodernity. Essays on today's innovators are beautifully printed in a simple, elegant manner that is typical of traditional Japanese work, and are combined with bold and colorful visual material which reflects the brash, global commerciality of much new material. This book is an inspirational "must" for designers in the West.