This is the first book to present today's traditional crafts under one cover and the first and only guide to the contemporary craft centers of Japan. A monumental effort seven years in the making, the Japan Crafts Sourcebook catalogs an array of items found throughout the country and discusses their history, background, and contemporary standing. An insightful introduction by Diane Durston delves into the intricacies of Japanese craft and contemplates the future of Japan's ongoing artisan traditions. With over ninety items from all genres - textiles, ceramics, wood, bamboo, lacquer, paper, and metal - and a wealth of illustrations, the Japan Crafts Sourcebook provides the perfect introduction to this cherished but vanishing world, and will prove invaluable for artists, craftspeople, designers, researchers, and lovers of the handmade object everywhere.
This is a fully illustrated guide to the art, craft and design of bamboo, as demonstrated by the Japanese. It demonstrates how to use inexpensive materials to create sophisticated effects in the home and garden. A list of bamboo collections, gardens and research sources is included. For centuries, bamboo has fascinated legions of craftspeople, plant lovers and devotees of the handcrafted object. And nowhere is bamboo used more elegantly and distinctly than in Japan. Its presence touches every part of daily life-art, crafts, design, literature, and food. Its beauty
**Winner, Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title 2015** This Japanese design book presents the arts, aesthetics and culture of Japan with over 160 stunning color photos and extensive historical and cultural commentary . The Japanese sensibility often possesses an intuitive, emotional appeal, whether it's a silk kimono, a carefully raked garden path, an architectural marvel, a teapot, or a contemporary work of art. This allure has come to permeate the entire culture of Japan—it is manifest in the most mundane utensil and snack food packaging, as well as in Japanese architecture and fine art. In Japanese Design, Asian art expert and author Patricia J. Graham explains how Japanese aesthetics based on fine craftsmanship and simplicity developed. Her unusual, full-color presentation reveals this design aesthetic in an absorbing way. Focusing on ten elements of Japanese design, Graham explores how visual qualities, the cultural parameters and the Japanese religious traditions of Buddhism and Shinto have impacted the appearance of its arts. Japanese Design is a handbook for the millions of us who have felt the special allure of Japanese art, culture and crafts. Art and design fans and professionals have been clamoring for this—a book that fills the need for an intelligent, culture-rich overview of what Japanese design is and means. Topics explored in Japanese Design include: The Aesthetics of Japanese Design The Cultural Parameters of Japanese Design Early Promoters of "Artistic Japan" 1830s-1950s
The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide to Japan will lead you straight to the best attractions Japan has to offer, with over 1000 detailed maps of Japan, stunning colour photographs and illustrations. You’ll find detailed background information on the best things to do in Japan region by region; from exploring the bustling streets of Tokyo to climbing Mount Fuji. Packed with cutaways and floor plans of all Japan’s major sights, as well as 3D aerial views of stunning shrines and street-by-street maps of Japan’s most exciting neighbourhoods. Fully updated and expanded, features include everything from a visual guide to Japan’s traditional arts and crafts, to Japan’s amazing history and cuisine. The DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Japan includes a comprehensive list of hotel reviews, recommended restaurants and first-class tips for shopping and entertainment, whatever your budget. Don't miss a thing with the DK Eyewitness Guide to Japan.
Asian art and material artifacts are expressive of cultural realities and constitute a "visible language" with messages that can be read, interpreted, and analyzed. These essays by scholars of Asian art, philosophy, anthropology, and religion focus on objects held in ASIANetwork schools. The chapters' authors tell the stories of the collections, and the collections themselves tell stories of the collectors.
Collecting Japanese Antiques is an excellent overview of the uniquely Japanese aesthetic and how it relates to Japanese culture. From the time Japan started trading with the West in the sixteenth century, Japanese arts and crafts have intrigued and delighted Westerners, especially lacquer, screens, swords and porcelain. Antique hunters will benefit from the practical and cautionary advice in this book; newcomers will appreciate information on the basics of collecting Japanese antiques; while other sections might reawaken interest in experienced collectors. Striking photographs throughout make this art and antiques book a must for collectors and lovers of Japanese art. Chapters include: Japan's Art Heritage Collecting for Fun and with Wisdom Screens and Scrolls Ukiyo-e and Other Prints Sagemono Ceramics Furniture Textiles Lacquerware Cloisonne Sculpture and Metalwork Swords and Armor Tea Ceremony Utensils Dolls Flower Baskets
"Judith Lee, an entitled descendant of the Korean royal family, has grown quite accustomed to the privileges of the aristocracy. Unfortunately for her, royal descent does not equal money. Her family lost their fortune long ago, and when her parents add insult to injury by cutting off her allowance upon her graduation from Yale, Jude (as she is known) learns the hard way that her fancy upbringing has left her unprepared to deal with her monstrous debts. As she hobnobs in New York with her clever, wellborn friends, she is introduced to Madame Tartakov, a charismatic Russian emigre, who has the solution for Jude's financial woes. The catch: Jude must put in two years at "Tartakov's Translation Services" - a front organization for the flock of high society girls, collected from all over the world, who now work as Manhattan's most coveted courtesans." "Jude's taste of the good life convinces her that she's right at home in Madame Tartakov's luxurious Upper East Side town house. She has finally found a job that uses the unique skills of a blue blood, and she is quite taken by the fiery classical violinist who pays for her "companionship" - that is, until she finds herself irresistibly drawn to Joshua Spinoza, a penniless philosophy student who has a stutter and poor taste in wine, and who leaves the opera at intermission because he thinks it is over." "Dark forces begin to test Jude's already limited moral fiber when she discovers not only that she is falling in love outside her clientele, but that an illegitimate relative is harboring a grotesque secret and something catastrophic is hidden in the family archives." "Ultimately, Jude is forced to take a good, hard look in her warped antique Tiffany mirror. Is being born into a world of privilege a gift? Can bad things really happen to blue bloods? And perhaps more startlingly: are courtesans nothing more than prostitutes in Prada?"--BOOK JACKET.
