This book presents over 600 traditional Japanese motifs, ranging from ukiyo-e, ghost stories, kamon and Noh plays to traditional patterns, which include introductions of their cultural backgrounds. It also showcases outstanding graphic works inspired by and integrated with specific motifs, and features interviews with distinguished designers, aiming to provide an insight into the traditional Japanese culture through contemporary design.

During America's Gilded Age (dates), the country was swept by a mania for all things Japanese. It spread from coast to coast, enticed everyone from robber barons to street vendors with its allure, and touched every aspect of life from patent medicines to wallpaper. Americans of the time found in Japanese art every design language: modernism or tradition, abstraction or realism, technical virtuosity or unfettered naturalism, craft or art, romance or functionalism. The art of Japan had a huge influence on American art and design. Title compares juxtapositions of American glass, silver and metal arts, ceramics, textiles, furniture, jewelry, advertising, and packaging with a spectrum of Japanese material ranging from expensive one-of-a-kind art crafts to mass-produced ephemera. Beginning in the Aesthetic movement, this book continues through the Arts & Crafts era and ends in Frank Lloyd Wright's vision, showing the reader how that model became transformed from Japanese to American in design and concept. Hannah Sigur is an art historian, writer, and editor with eight years' residence and study in East and Southeast Asia. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and is completing a PhD in the arts of Japan. Her writings include co-authoring A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design (Timber Press, 2002), which is listed in "The Best Books of 2002" by The Christian Science Monitor and is now in its second edition; and "The Golden Ideal: Chinese Landscape Themes in Japanese Art," in Lotus Leaves, A Master Guide to the Art of Floral Design (2001). She lives in Berkeley.

A beautiful primer for the fundamentals of pattern in Japanese Art, including background information on the traditional significance and meaning of motifs.

This book presents over 700 Chinese motifs, showcasing 35 outstanding works inspired by Peking Opera, Paper Cutting, Animal Motifs and Auspicious Motifs, etc. Well-known designers were invited to share their design inspiration and experience concerning Chinese motifs to offer an insight into traditional Chinese culture. CD-ROM (1. The facial make-up in Chinese opera, 2. Chinese paper cutting, 3. New year painting, 4. The auspicious pattern, 5. The animal motif, 6. Plants and flowers motif).--

Exhibition of paintings, lacquerwork, ceramics, textiles, calligraphy, and other media all in the Rinpa style from 1600 to the present day.

Untranslatable, the word katachi signifies the essence of Japanese designthe form, symmetry, and workmanship of traditional craft. Embodying the marriage of beauty and functionality that is the key to the Japanese aesthetic, the objects presented in Katachi are made of materials that have played an important role in Japanese life for centuries: wood, bamboo, stone, fiber, metal, earth. The photographs, in black-and-white and color, showcase pieces ranging from exquisite geometric stone carvings and architecturally elegant shoji screens to such humble yet perfectly conceived objects as combs, sandals, rakes, and teapots. Twenty years in the making, photographer Takeji Iwamiya's masterwork is a lovingly rendered tribute to these objects and the culture they sprang from. Japanese concepts of shape and form have been a major influence on contemporary design throughout the world, and this eloquent collection will appeal to designers as much as to connoisseurs of Japanese art and culture.

Thinking of getting a Japanese-style tattoo? Want to avoid a permanent mistake? Japanese Tattoos is an insider's look at the world of Japanese irezumi (tattoos). Japanese Tattoos explains the imagery featured in Japanese tattoos so that readers can avoid getting ink they don't understand or, worse, that they'll regret. This photo-heavy book will also trace the history of Japanese tattooing, putting the iconography and kanji symbols in their proper context so readers will be better informed as to what they mean and have a deeper understanding of irezumi. Tattoos featured will range from traditional tebori (hand-poked) and kanji tattoos to anime-inspired and modern works--as well as everything in between. For the first time, Japanese tattooing will be put together in a visually attractive, informative, and authoritative way. Along with the 350+ photos of tattoos, Japanese Tattoos will also feature interviews with Japanese tattoo artists on a variety of topics. What's more, there will be interviews with clients, who are typically overlooked in similar books, allowing them to discuss what their Japanese tattoos mean to them. Those who read this informative tattoo guide will be more knowledgeable about Japanese tattoos should they want to get inked or if they are simply interested in Japanese art and culture.

Let this book show you the pleasure of repairing, reinforcing and making beloved items using sashiko embroidery! Sashiko for Making and Mending shows you how to use sashiko stitching to mend rips, repair things like fraying cuffs and create original accessories that look fabulous. With this book, you'll be able to embrace the visible mending movement--the practice of repairing high quality items you already own instead of replacing them with cheaper "fast fashion" alternatives. It also gives you the opportunity to practice the craft, with instructions for 15 handmade items, including: Gorgeous indigo pouches A rustic linen book cover Breezy, multipurpose cotton stoles A simple, elegant tote bag And so much more! This book teaches many easy variations of the traditional sashiko stitches--highlighting the impact simple, well-executed stitching can have on everything from embellishing napkins to repairing a jacket. Its gorgeous, thoughtful aesthetic and high-functionality makes sashiko the perfect all-purpose embroidery!

At first sight, it appears brand new, pure Tokyo pop. But The Japanese Experience: Inevitable reveals far more than the successful cloning of morphed manga motifs onto stretched canvas and museum walls. It represents eight positions in contemporary Japanese art and scrutinizes their complex visual vocabulary, noting references to Japanese and Western art traditions as frequently as the borrowing of mass culture motifs from the realms of manga and anime. Takashi Murakami's MR. DOB questions the place of contemporary art in our global society; Aya Takano's glowing watercolors combine Japanese sensitivity, issues of female identity, and sci-fi; Masahiko Kuwahara's mutant animals provide shades of softness and mysterious openness, and Yoshitomo Nara's reworking of historical Japanese woodcuts disturbs the floating world. Not only are the artists' visual repertoires new and surprising, but their creative methods and strategies help conquer a public that is mostly untouched by contemporary art. Published in association with the Ursula Blickle Foundation.

Some of the most ingenious and attractive modern motifs. 746 designs.