tile, by tomoko yamashita.

via book by its cover (guest review by anna gleeson).

JT ads

top: is topiary that i like. via tsuyatsuya's potted gardens.

second and below:

these have been about for a while, but i do like them.

it is hard to choose a favourite, but perhaps the 'children scolding 

adults with paintbrushes' one? although the olympic torch runner one is also brilliant.

they are japan tobacco (according to wikipedia, still a 50% state-owned tobacco company.  i didn't smoke until 

i went to japan,a personal choice though, and yes, i know smoking 

is bad, i would love to quit) smoking manners advertising.

images via combinibento.

temp press

temp press designers series @ keibunsha. what is your favourite font?

artless

artless are a graphic design unit based in tokyo and lead by art director/designer shun kawakami. typography as art - so great. they blend monochrome graphics with bonsai, ikebana and calligraphy stylings in their art and also do loads of other projects like sound installations and most recently package design for issey miyake.

see this pingmag article for more.

paper love

papier laboです。

and the papier labo blog, it is wonderful. art of paper. letterpress, font and typography heaven. (this is where i found community garden zine.)

and as a strong believer in animal rights, i like this papier labo postcard collaboration with mike mills' 'humans' project. that link also has a nice summary of who papier labo are. and mike mills is just incredibly great all round.

and 8tokyo has some photos of inside their sendagaya shop.

how to wrap 5 eggs

this is my keibunsha book of the week this week and it is so good i thought maybe i should pay it some more attention. a book of traditional japanese packaging design edited by graphic designer Hideyuki Oka first published in the 1960s. i really like the dwell.com comment on the traditional designs: 'ingeniously utilitarian yet fine and rare'. and this cool tools article has some excerpts from the book, including detailed explanations of how the form follows function in the packaging designs - really interesting reading.

the celebration of the intrinsic beauty of the craftsmanship in these photographs also makes me want to re-read more closely the unknown craftsman by mingei movement founder soetsu yanagi. how to wrap 5 eggs has an introduction from george nelson, to quote:

'what we have lost for sure is what this book is all about: a once common sense of fitness in the relationships between hand, materials, use and shape, and above all, a sense of delight in the look and feel of very ordinary, humble things'

the book is available via amazon.

cibi wonder

oh me oh my.

cibi brings a little bit of the best parts of japan to the backstreets of collingwood, and for that i am so very thankful. tasty, homestyle set menu breakfast and lunch plates with grilled salmon for those inclined toward meat, or kabocha nibitashi (pumpkin cooked in a broth seasoned with soy and sugar) and tamogoyaki (rolled omlette) for the herbivores. a beautiful daikon, wakame and cucumber tsukemono flavoured with shiso (see the glossary there on the side bar for the english versions of these) was a taste sensation and the miso soup so hearty.

and then there is the sun pouring through the massive warehouse windows in the semi-industrial space. and to top it all off, the artisan japanese items for sale in the rear. one discovery amongst the carefully edited items on sale was cochae. cochae are an 'origami graphic trio' whose collage origami i really like. they also have wonderful works in printed design and their flyer designs are great. in a serendipitous spotting when looking through their graphic works, i saw they did a flyer for a tenniscoats gig in japan; tenniscoats are a japanese duo who recently played in melbourne at the toff, and they were wonderful.

happy days.

train to osaka

anyone who works in an office or has attended a seminar knows the pain of the powerpoint. when struggling for a new way to say what we need to, my workmate found this wonderful blog by garr reynolds on presentation design. the above is a great example of japanese train poster campaigns and the below is the 'takahashi method' of powerpoint: make it large.