
WA: The Essence of Japanese Design
By Rossella Menegazzo, Stefania Piotti and Kenya Hara
Just what is it that makes Japanese product design so appealing? Gone are the days when the West looked East with envy and something approaching disbelief; the tenets of craft, minimalism and simplicity have long since filtered into the mainstream. Nevertheless, there's still a definable quality to the country's design output, a quality that continues to intrigue and invite imitation. WA offers up 250 examples of contemporary Japanese design from every discipline, treating every object with fetishistic reverence in order to provide a snapshot of the country's material culture.
Published by Phaidon, £49.95
Writer: Jonathan Bell