Traditional Japanese Design Motifs

Japanese crests dating back to the Middle Ages are reproduced and catalogued according to family

Over 250 readily usable, royalty-free, authentic Japanese designs -- from ceramics, textiles, more. Includes florals, demons, animals, geometrics, more.

A beautiful primer for the fundamentals of pattern in Japanese Art, including background information on the traditional significance and meaning of motifs.

Family crests (mon) have been a Japanese tradition since the eleventh century, when they decorated the costumes and carriages of courtiers. Later, they were used to identify warriors on the battlefield, as heraldic decorations on formal costumes, and as ornament on the kimonos of the common people. Small, compact, and graceful, with a strong sense of style, crest designs are ideal for spot illustrations, as logos, or for any graphic purpose requiring the classic simplicity, purity, and strength of Japanese design. This volume presents a total of 540 permission-free motifs, carefully selected for graphic impact and usefulness from several thousand crests known to exist. Featured are a wide variety of stylized designs depicting plants, animals, natural phenomena, geometric shapes, and manufactured objects.Among the subjects included in this selection are such traditional Japanese motifs as bamboo, crane, lightning, cherry blossom, peony, plum blossom, wave, rice, circle, and hollyhock. Immensely useful, this volume of permission-free designs is not only an invaluable source of graphic material for artists, designers, and craftspeople, but a fascinating picture book of Japanese culture.

Versatile collection of 276 exquisite Japanese stencil designs — clouds, birds, butterflies, bamboo, plum and cherry blossoms, geometrics, more. Royalty-free illustrations are ideal for modern decorative and graphic needs — fabric, wallpaper and textile designs, calendars, menus, woodblock printing, needlecrafts, etc. 276 black-and-white illustrations. Introduction.

360 traditional Japanese designs and motifs redrawn in clean, crisp black-and-white, royalty-free illustrations.

Learn the elements of the timeless beauty that is Japanese design in this concise reference volume. Japanese design is known throughout the world for its beauty, its simplicity, and its blending of traditional and contemporary effects. This succinct guide describes the influence and importance of 65 key elements that make up Japanese design, detailing their origins—and their impact on fields ranging from architecture and interior design to consumer products and high fashion. Learn, for example, how the wabi sabi style that's so popular today developed from the lifestyle choices made by monks a thousand years ago. And how unexpected influences—like tatami (straw mats) or seijaku (silence)—have contributed to contemporary Japanese design. Elements of Japanese Design offers new insights into the historical and cultural developments at the root of this now international aesthetic movement. From wa (harmony) to kaizen (continuous improvement), from mushin (the empty mind) to mujo (incompleteness), you'll discover how these elements have combined and evolved into a powerful design paradigm that has changed the way the world looks, thinks and acts. Chapters include: Washi, Paper with Character Ikebana, Growing Flowers in a Vase Bukkyo, The Impact of Buddhism Shibui, Eliminating the Unessential Kawaii, The Incredibly "Cute" Syndrome Katana, Swords with Spirit

This book presents over 600 traditional Japanese motifs, ranging from ukiyo-e, ghost stories, kamon and Noh plays to traditional patterns, which include introductions of their cultural backgrounds. It also showcases outstanding graphic works inspired by and integrated with specific motifs, and features interviews with distinguished designers, aiming to provide an insight into the traditional Japanese culture through contemporary design.