Katachi: Classical Japanese Design - Softcover

Iwamiya, Takeji

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811825477 ISBN 13: 9780811825474

Publisher: Chronicle Books, 1999

Synopsis

Untranslatable, the word katachi signifies the essence of Japanese design—the 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.

About this title

Review:

There is no English equivalent to the word katachi, which roughly translates to mean the essence of Japanese design. It is a term that expresses the aesthetic beauty, the refined minimal form, the time-tested functionality, and the fine workmanship of traditional Japanese crafts that have endured for centuries. Author Takeji Iwamiya (1920-1989), one of Japan's foremost photographers and a professor at the Osaka University of Arts, spent a lifetime collecting examples of katachi. Many years in the making, his masterwork Katachi: The Essence of Japanese Design is a thoughtfully rendered tribute to the objects that epitomize the Japanese design aesthetic, as well as a celebration of the culture in which they were produced. At 432 pages with 600 black-and-white photographic reproductions, this contemplative volume offers a thorough sampling of objects organized around materials that have played an important role in Japanese life for centuries: paper, wood, bamboo, fiber, clay, metal, and stone. The collection ranges from simple carved boxwood combs to the elaborate Edo-period hairstyles they were used to create; from endearing cherubic palace dolls to an ominous array of kitchen knives; from austere arrangements of garden stepping-stones to exquisitely detailed floral sugar confections. A thought-provoking essay by Mutsuo Takahashi entitled "Through the Mirror of Japan" precedes the images, which are presented in successive full-page spreads and identified in brief endnotes. This elegant softcover book will appeal to designers, artists, connoisseurs of Japanese art and culture, and many others. --A.C. Smith

From the Inside Flap:

The word Katachi signifies the essence of Japanese design--the 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: Paper, Wood, Bamboo, Fiber, Clay, Metal, and Stone.

These photographs 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. The essence of craftsmanship, in this case, refers to both the objects and the photographs. Fifty years in the making, Katachi was photographer Takeji Iwamiya's masterwork.

Throughout his long career as both a professor of art and photographer, he continually sought out examples of Katachi.

Only the best of the best are gathered here in this exceptional document of Japanese design and culture.

About this edition

• Publisher: Chronicle Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0811825477
• ISBN 13: 9780811825474
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 432