Design Masters Dialogue: True Insights from 25 Top Experts in Japan

Author: (Japanese) Iwao Yazama
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This is not an ordinary interview collection but a compendium of heartfelt insights from contemporary Japanese design masters. Compared to the phenomenon of designers being pursued in the 1970s and the highly acclaimed Design Era, it is rare nowadays to have the opportunity to visit the creative studios of those who shape the era or to directly experience their presence. As we wander along the trends of consumer society, we often fail to recognize the origins of the dazzling beautiful designs before us, much like standing before a roaring river yet unsure how to find its clear source. We have gradually lost the ability to focus on the origins. To regain this desire to trace the roots, the spirited photographer Kazuo Sugihara decided to embark on a journey upstream, documenting everything that happens at the source through words and images. With his nearly amateur-like curiosity and relentless effort, he ultimately achieved his persistent exploration of the wise production sites. The premise of compiling an interview collection, of course, is interviewing, and the key to interview skills, if summarized in one sentence, might be the principle of "Harmony in Diversity." However, what is even more important is the issue of "Selection." The criteria for the interviewees, as set forth in advance, appear to have no particular distinction on the surface, except for conveying what has become our new common focus—the entirety and authenticity of design as a profession. Yet this book assembles a comprehensive roster of creative talents of the era, and the twenty-five individuals featured are so indispensable that the book would be incomplete without any one of them.