Japanese Design

The first comprehensive presentation of modern design in Japan, this elegant survey documents a unique interpretation of the forms and aesthetics of products made for everyday use. Tracing the development of more than 250 objects—ranging from a simple white porcelain soy-sauce container of the 1950s to the complex electronic equipment and pace-setting fashions of the 1980s and 1990s—this book examines the work of designers who have boldly challenged their Western counterparts in terms of adventurousness and originality.

Encompassing the fields of furniture, fashion, textile design, housewares, consumer electronics, graphics, packaging, and crafts, Japanese Design explores the indefinable quality that makes these objects quintessentially Japanese. Over 310 illustrations, 246 in color, demonstrate that, regardless of their style or function, they share an aesthetic rooted in the concepts of compactness, craftsmanship, humor, asymmetry, and simplicity. Combined with Japan's highly developed craft tradition and the imagery of its paintings and prints, these contribute to a broad visual vocabulary shared by designers throughout the country today, so that even a television set or a fire fighter's uniform has unmistakably Japanese characteristics.

The history and spirit of Japanese design are examined in the 19 essays that serve to introduce the subject. In their insightful introductions, Felice Fischer and Kathryn B. Hiesinger, curators at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, describe the antecedents of Japanese design and its postwar history, while a group of well-known Japanese designers, critics, and corporate managers discuss design education, marketing, government, and organizational involvements; survey the development of their particular fields; and provide personal statements and corporate histories that present a rich, varied picture of the essence of Japanese design.

Critical biographies of designers and makers, with appended bibliographies, complete this stunning volume, which accompanies an exhibition held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the fall of 1994. Japanese Design is sure to become an indispensible source for everyone interested in contemporary design.