Books, Letterforms and Design in Asia by Sugiura Kohei

Description

This book presents a philosophy of Asian graphic design through a series of wide-ranging illustrated dialogues between Sugiura Kohei of Japan and his colleagues Ahn Sang-soo and Chung Byoung-kyoo from Korea, Lu Jing-ren from China, Huang Yung-sung from Taiwan and R.K. Joshi and Kirti Trivedi from India. These designers, whose work transcends national boundaries,discuss varied topics including the allure of Chinese and Japanese characters,Korea’s Hangul and India’s Devanagari; the world of traditional books and what they offer us today; and their own unique approaches to design that build on past traditions as well as contemporary trends, from an Asian perspective.While Sugiura skilfully draws out the essence of his six colleagues’ aesthetic vision and design traits, his own outstanding contributions as designer and teacher are revealed in his conversation with Tsuno Kaitaro, a famous Japanese writer, editor and critic. Further, a lively three-way conversation between Sugiura, Ahn Sang-soo and Lu Jing-ren illustrates the breadth of their interests and how much the various Asian cultures have in common. Originally published in Japanese and later in Chinese and Korean, it is hoped this edition will communicate the thoughts of these Asian creative minds to English-language readers across the world.