The opportunity to actually write letters decreases because the advent of computers that can input characters, such as word processors and personal computers. It has been becoming convenient and the accuracy of convenience increases. On the other hand, I do not think that the opportunity to actually write letters will be completely lost, and I do not want to lose it.

If I say so, I sometimes forget about how to write Kanji (Chinese character), make mistakes to write kanji or sometimes I am stunned by the poor character I wrote. It has been a few years since I need to face to write letters by hand… I tried practicing with the pen writing exercise book, but it does not last long and loses the temptation of convenience.

While watching Japanese paintings, ukiyoe prints, picture scrolls, old documents at the exhibition of the times, I thought “Vertical writing looks beautiful” as I felt restless with my hand writing for a while. And I thought, okay I try! then I went to the stationary shop. It is high level to write Japanese with brushes, and I found a nice fountain pen. I bought a nice one, it is perfect for writing comfortable, the appearance and the price is good. ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>This one. It is very easy to write because the pen tip is heavier, and the look is cool.

My job is designing printed matters or digital stuff (websites or apps), today is about typeface which is indispensable to my work.

Commercial design has the role of “telling”, so each product has a message, and the ways to tell it will be images such as pictures or illustrations, and texts. And selecting which typeface should be used is important to design.

There are typefaces that already installed and you need to purchase for a fee. Paid typefaces are high design and quite elaborate.
*Designing typefaces is a highly specialized and delicate world, there are typeface designers.

Both already installed and purchased are displayed on the character palette of professional editing software (illustrator, photoshop etc) when designing it, and you can select it.

There is a typeface genre I have never used before even though I see it on the character palette, I’ve been engaged in work in various industries so far and I think that the number of things you probably made is four digits though. I wrote about my “Oh I see!” discovery of “that one”.

The word “DIY” has also become established and more people are enjoying making things. I am happy because workshops and studios are also increasing. I also participate occasionally and enjoy making things, and I introduce to you I participated the other day.

I participated in “Workshop for making key cases with Tochigi Leather”.
“Leather to use is manufactured by Tochigi Prefecture called Tochigi Leather, is a high-grade leather that is evaluated all over the world. When licking the leather, by immersing plenty of oil, it makes the leather more supple and adds durability. As the taste changes deeply with each year, you can patronize long.” I decided to make this immediately because I love the leather and wanted to change my key case this time.

The all steps are here.

Today is about color.
First the meaning is here.

Color
Color (American English) or colour (Commonwealth English) is the characteristic of human visual perception described through color categories, with names such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple. This perception of color derives from the stimulation of cone cells in the human eye by electromagnetic radiation in the visible spectrum. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associated with objects through the wavelength of the light that is reflected from them. This reflection is governed by the object’s physical properties such as light absorption, emission spectra, etc.

Wikipedia

I am interested in the explanation about color in Japanese Wikipedia, it is something like this.

“Even with the same color stimulus, the same color perception is not necessarily established, and the results are different depending on the perception of the surroundings and the state of the observer.”

And also the explanations related to the above sentenced in English Wikipedia:

Individual colors have a variety of cultural associations such as national colors (in general described in individual color articles and color symbolism). The field of color psychology attempts to identify the effects of color on human emotion and activity.

If you have been a designer for more than 15 years, you will also be naturally aware of the feelings of “creator” other than your genre design (graphic & digital).

I wonder what they are made of? How did the creator did it? What the purpose of it? something like I wonder the background of the creation. I feel happy when I find something common feeling even our genre is different, or it is also happy to find new learnings.

I love any “creators” from designers or craftsmen very much, and I would like to introduce love expressions from designers/creators which I can see from the finished products, so that I named the title of today. In addition to the purpose as a function, there are other purposes such as culturally appeal to emotion or they have social sense of mission. I would like people to look at other roles than functions.

Vol. 1 today is about “Shoji (Shoji is a sliding screen with white paper on thin
wooden laths).” designed by Korin Ogata (he was a Japanese painter, lacquerer and designer of the Rinpa school).
I visited the MOA museum of art in Atami the other day, there are facilities except for the museum such as Noh theater, Tea garden, Tea house etc. And I write about the Shoji of Korin’s Residence (reconstruction) which he spent the last five years and drew national treasure paintings there.

I often have visited to shrines or temple, read books about Japanese culture and leaning about how to wear Kimono recently because the desire to learn Japanese culture properly became stronger year by year. What I would like to learn about next it Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement).

You can see Ikebana somewhere cultural places, but I only enjoy it seeing not doing for now because I hesitate to do it… However, I found a experience chance of it at MOA museum of art in Atami.

The venue is very nice which is “this reconstruction is a precious document of the traditional machiya style of house from the Edo period. The Residence contains two tea rooms, one five-and-half-mat size and the other three-mat. The latter “Seisei-an” was named after Korin’s pen name, and the sign for the room was created by Japanese artist Okumura Togyu. The reconstruction was supervised by a great authority on the Sukiya style of architecture Dr Sutemi Horiguchi.”

The reconstruction is here.

“Khadi: The Fabric of India’s Tomorrow” – 1 –
“Khadi: The Fabric of India’s Tomorrow” – 2 –

I have introduced about the exhibition “Khadi: The Fabric of India’s Tomorrow – Homage to Martand Singh -“ at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT over two times.

Both the content and the ways of exhibition are great, and the words of Mr. Singh (the producer and the curator of this exhibition) caught my heart at most.

There is an infinite number of whites…
White of the jasmine flower,
White of the sea form,
White of the august moon,
White of the conch shell,
White of the clouds that have been emptied of rain.

Handmade Kadhi has different expressions one by one, a beautiful cloth expressing the difference delicately the white. The above his words are very nice which imaged Kadhi with countless white, and I feel so happy to imagine the beauties. Why I was caught my heart is “White”.

I introduced about Kadhi last time, I tell about the producer and curator Martand Singh who conveys the wonderful culture to us.

Kadi was on the verge of survival 20 years ago, Mr. Singh made various activities to rebuild his country’s tradition to the present age. Today, Kadhi is used high-end fashion brands. I learned about it is also important someone who conveys the wonderfulness to people, not only the culture or facts itself.

Mr. Martand Singh

The exhibition of Kadhi is held all over the world. I was very impressed the Swatches + Catalog, it was displayed at the first “KHADI: The Fabric of Freedom” on January 30, 2002, the 54th anniversary of Gandhi’s death. Only one hundred copies of this catalog of 108 (the number of earthy desires) fabric samples were created, they look so beautiful! I thought the sense of Singh’s production was also playing a major role in Kadhi’s reconstruction. Ways of conveying is also important, big learning.

I went to the current exhibition “Khadi: The Fabric of India’s Tomorrow – Homage to Martand Singh -“ at 21_21 DESIGN SIGNT in Roppongi.

Khadi is a type of cotton fabric that is still spun and woven by hand in regions across India. The process is all by hands and the origin dates back to the Indus civilization. They look all different, and warm and beautiful.

It is said that there are spinning wheels called Charkha in each house. There is a famous picture of Mahatma Gandhi with the wheels Charkha, Khadi is a symbol of Indian independence.
* Boycotting imported goods from Britain and wearing traditional Indian cotton clothes, which promotes the independence.

*The image is view from the “Atami Villa (Kyu Hyuga Bettei)”

Today is a side story of Bruno Taut “Atami Villa” 1 / Bruno Taut “Atami Villa” 2.

I wrote about the guide when I visited the Atami Villa in the last article, I introduce about wonderful leanings from the guide.

Taut found the Japanese beauties in Katsura Imperial Villa, Ise Shrine and Shirakawago, and he disseminated them to the word by his books. Today’s blog is about why Japanese architectures attract him.

First, the “Unostentatiousness”.
Katsura Imperial Villa is a “Villa” and Ise Shrine is a “Religious Facility”, but they are humble and simple. The colors from nature are modest. On the one hand, Western villas and religious facilities are gorgeous, also they are colorful. They are opposite of Japan. The architectures are modest in Japan and they are gorgeous in the Wet, but how about clothes? Japanese traditional clothes are Kimono, right it is very colorful and gorgeous. The color of the upper class more vividly, more layers and the hairstyle becomes big and gorgeous. The clothes in the West is dress, dresses look modest and colorless, especially in the Middle Ages.

Japanese culture which is gorgeous clothes look best in the modest space, and Western culture which is modest clothes look best in the gorgeous space. I see, both has good balance.