There are specific issues you already know you’ll discover on Hollywood Blvd: fresh-off-the-bus dream-seekers, road performers caressing pythons, worldwide vacationers preserving the selfie stick market afloat— the checklist goes on and on. Much less anticipated on Tinseltown’s most well-known thoroughfare is a glass storefront inside the Ovation Hollywood procuring heart that showcases Japanese artwork, design, gastronomy, innovation, and know-how. JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles would possibly really feel a bit misplaced, however its mission holds sturdy amidst Hollywood’s hustle and bustle.
As a part of this crucial, JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles has an on-site gallery house the place they host rotating exhibitions that commemorate Japanese tradition and spotlight creators who embrace Japanese aesthetics. On view now could be “DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN | Bridging Design and Life,” which I had the delight of personally touring.
DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN options six Japanese creators—Tsuyoshi Tane (architect), Tamae Hirokawa (dressmaker), Koichiro Tsujikawa (movie director), Tetsuya Mizuguchi (expertise architect), Kinya Tagawa (design engineer), and Reiko Sudo (textile designer)—who’ve every performed in-depth analysis into six Japanese design treasures that exemplify the design tradition of a selected space of Japan. The present breaks down the again tales of every design and its connection to the area, delivered to life with insights from the researchers.
I used to be notably intrigued by the analysis of textile designer Reiko Sudo, who dove into athletic uniform improvement at a sports activities producer in Toyama Prefecture within the Hokuriku area. This exhibition part shows the three position-specific jersey designs Group Japan wore on the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The jerseys’ material, worn like a membrane, was fashioned three-dimensionally utilizing warmth. It’s light-weight, tear-resistant, and dries shortly.
Deeper into the exhibition, I got here to Kinya Tagawa’s analysis, which explores the inventive strategy of product designer Sori Yanagi. Tagawa centered his investigation on Yanagi’s cutlery assortment, which the designer fashions from single strands of steel or different supplies.
One other standout part for me was movie director Koichiro Tsujikawa’s analysis into spinning tops on the Japan Toy Museum in Himeji, Hyōgo prefecture. As our first contact with design, toys embody design in its most primitive kind, and spinning tops, particularly, have the facility to draw, elate, and entrance people
DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN will run at JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles by way of April 14. Entry is free, so it can save you your cash for the fastidiously curated present store within the entrance.
Photos of the exhibition are courtesy of the writer.
