Design Anthology - Asia Pacific Edition
Encyclopedia of East Asian Design
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.