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Super Potato Design: The Complete Works of Takashi Sugimoto: Japan's Leading Interior Designer
Super Potato Design is the first full-length book to present the work and conceptual ideas of the internationally renowned Japanese design firm Super Potato, founded by Takashi Sugimoto.
Super Potato's compelling designs for the interiors of restaurants, shops and hotels, as well as Takashi Sugimoto's designs for tea ceremony spaces and utensils, are richly complex compositions of materials which create simple, strong spaces.
Using traditional Japanese building materials such as bamboo, wood, and stone, but creating original yet timeless spaces, Super Potato's designs avoid specific stylistic characterizations and short-lived fashion. By finding contemporary expression for essential concepts present in traditional Japan and combining materials in unexpected ways to create exciting spaces, Super Potato's work has had a significant impact on interior design in Japan and throughout Asia.
Super Potato Design is generously illustrated with 320 full-color photographs by the respected Japanese photographer Yoshio Shiratori, who has recorded Super Potato's projects since the firm's conception in 1973. Architect and Japan scholar Mira Locher introduces the ideas and influences of Takashi Sugimoto, the founder and principal designer of Super Potato, and provides a thorough explanation of each project. Architectural drawings further describe the projects. A forward by Tadao Anso, interviews between Takashi Sugimoto and architect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama, and also graphic designer Kenya Hara, explore the ideas relevant to Japanese designers today. A list of the Complete Works of Super Potato rounds off the book.
Super Potato's compelling designs for the interiors of restaurants, shops and hotels, as well as Takashi Sugimoto's designs for tea ceremony spaces and utensils, are richly complex compositions of materials which create simple, strong spaces.
Using traditional Japanese building materials such as bamboo, wood, and stone, but creating original yet timeless spaces, Super Potato's designs avoid specific stylistic characterizations and short-lived fashion. By finding contemporary expression for essential concepts present in traditional Japan and combining materials in unexpected ways to create exciting spaces, Super Potato's work has had a significant impact on interior design in Japan and throughout Asia.
Super Potato Design is generously illustrated with 320 full-color photographs by the respected Japanese photographer Yoshio Shiratori, who has recorded Super Potato's projects since the firm's conception in 1973. Architect and Japan scholar Mira Locher introduces the ideas and influences of Takashi Sugimoto, the founder and principal designer of Super Potato, and provides a thorough explanation of each project. Architectural drawings further describe the projects. A forward by Tadao Anso, interviews between Takashi Sugimoto and architect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama, and also graphic designer Kenya Hara, explore the ideas relevant to Japanese designers today. A list of the Complete Works of Super Potato rounds off the book.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 7, 2020
Very pretty pictures.
December 29, 2015
I browsed Mira Locher's Super Potato Design hoping to find inspiration for decorating the inside and the courtyard of a new house project. Overall, although I found some interesting elements and discovered a fun designer, but also found that most of the covered works of Takashi Sugimoto were too large and business-oriented for what I needed.
The book covers over 30 projects of rhe design shop Super Potato. The projects cover the early work, series, and recent projects of the shop. Each project is covered in detail, with excellent pics and good analysis. Unfortunately, I did not turn into a fan of the actual work - - too much fake-rugged stuff (rustic style) and, when that is not the issue, too many businesslike objects for my taste. (I know most projects were for business customers, but that is no excuse for top designers.)
One more detail: although the projects are not exactly featuring Japanese elements, the architecture and some of the designs allow a foreigner to Japan to discover the local culture. Well done!
The book covers over 30 projects of rhe design shop Super Potato. The projects cover the early work, series, and recent projects of the shop. Each project is covered in detail, with excellent pics and good analysis. Unfortunately, I did not turn into a fan of the actual work - - too much fake-rugged stuff (rustic style) and, when that is not the issue, too many businesslike objects for my taste. (I know most projects were for business customers, but that is no excuse for top designers.)
One more detail: although the projects are not exactly featuring Japanese elements, the architecture and some of the designs allow a foreigner to Japan to discover the local culture. Well done!
May 8, 2009
favorite commercial interior design book - true zen......
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews