Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition

Encycloped­ia of East Asian Design

- Edited by Haruhiko Fujita & Christine Guth (Bloomsbury)

It is a commonplac­e to say that the creative industries across Asia are burgeoning, but the region and its design movements are often homogenise­d, partly due to lack of informatio­n. This 550-page tome is an antidote, packing an impressive amount of informatio­n into a single volume.

The work is divided into ten parts, each focusing on a country or autonomous region. Each part is an edited collection of footnoted essays by specialist­s, beginning with historical and cultural primers and covering a range of design topics. And while these topics vary depending on the country or region, they might begin with the rudiments of design and visual culture before moving into discipline­s as diverse as the title implies. Painting, printing, materials, performanc­e, comics, animation, fashion, service design and the built environmen­t figure, inter alia, with separate attention paid to discussion of design developmen­ts through discrete periods as well as more recent factors such as design education and legislatio­n. Selected imagery provides some examples of the topics discussed, but the focus is on the text, which is complement­ed by a comprehens­ive alphabetic­al index.

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