I received another book from my wishlist recently–which also means I really need to get some more posts up here again. This one was Katachi: Classic Japanese Design. This book should be on any designers bookshelf! It is inspiring and highly educational.
Katachi is a visually stunning collection of photographs by Takeji Iwamiya. who was a photographer and professor at the Osaka University of Art. The book itself is the culmination of a lifetime collection of examples of katachi–a term that roughly translates as the essence of the form. He photographed thousands of individual objects ranging from the everyday such as brooms, chopsticks and combs, to tiles and metalwork on temples. In the book are six hundred photographs of his collection organized by material: paper, wood, bamboo, fiber, clay, metal and stone. The main portion of the book has no text, just page after page of full page black and white photographs. There is a wonderful essay as an introduction and in the back a brief, but informative, description of each object in the form of end notes.
If you are an artist, designer or enjoy Japanese are and culture you really should check out this book. I only wish it was available in a larger coffee table hardback edition.
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