For the love of typography For the love of typography For the love of typography For the love of typography For the love of typography For the love of typography For the love of typography
Issue 01
Takenobu Igarashi 五十嵐威暢
T a k e n “My approach to o b u Igarashi, born design and sculp design, planned, and gathered in 1944 in the Japanese ture has always material for a special publicawavered between town of Hokkaido, is a protion of IDEA magazine titled lific designer first in graph- my wish to do “Graphic Designers of the ics and typography and has something useWest Coast”. In the 80s, Iganow shifted to sculpting. ful for society, rashi focused more on creatHe attended Tama Art Uni- and my desire to ing alphabet sculptures and versity in Tokyo, Japan and create something simultaneously advanced in graduated in 1968. Upon beautiful with my product design skills. Argucompleting his degree, Ig- own hands. In my ably one of his most reputable arashi travelled abroad for masterpieces, the 3D numeropinion there are post-graduate study and al calendars, were featured three essential earnt his master’s degree in a series of graphic design things in work: at California University and product design goods passion, challenge in 1969. His postgraduate for the Museum of Modern studies being completed and discovery. Art in New York. Igarashi in Without that, overseas was frowned upon the late 80s then went back amongst the Japanese de- work gets boring; to support Japanese regional sign firm communities and with that, work industries by designing and he struggled to find work in is enjoyable. And creating products that were a firm. It was in 1970 Iga- artwork that is largely influenced by his Japrashi decided to create his enjoyable also re- anese background and comown design office. His work sults in success” plimented traditional Japanese focused mostly in tradecraftmanship. These series of mark, corporate identity and environmental products were distributed and sold in Amerand product design. He then returned to the ican and European museum stores. Moving University of California in 1975 as a lec- into the 90s, Igarashi found a passion in turer. It was around this time Igarashi had sculpture design and subsequently started a earnt international acclaim with his exper- career as a sculptor. He has produced some imentation of axonometric alphabets. In notable work as a sculptor creating signage 1979, Igarashi had his first introduction to and some public reliefs in Japan. Some of the international limelight was his feature his work includes Terracotta sculptures in the well-known Swiss design magazine such as his “Terminus Forest” in Paseo Un“GRAPHIS”. It was in this magazine he derground Square. He also created metal would be featured in a further four more is- sculptures called “KUBO” for the Azabu sues, with the last being in 1998. As a de- Juban shopping district and experimentsigner who strived to introduce other artists ed with wooden carvings such as Tokyo into the scene, Igarashi did all the layout and Midtown’s “To the Sea of Premonition”.
M
St
Mathe
Struct Percep
Igarashi’s design style stems from his Japanese heritage and up-bringing. Igarashi quotes “My approach to design and sculpture has always wavered between my wish to do something useful for society, and my desire to create something beautiful with my own hands. In my opinion there are three essential things in work: passion, challenge and discovery. Without that, work gets boring; with that, work is enjoyable. And artwork that is enjoyable always results in success”. His work as a product designer in the 80s and his support of the Japanese regional industries compliments this ideology. That is, everything is crafted with a specific purpose and a spirit of invention. It is through this
ideology many would consider Igarashi a professed Modernist. Igarashi’s influences come from grid systems and the respective mathematical order found in Swiss design. It is through this Igarashi is allowed to explore form and a crossover of the two-dimensional and three-dimensional planes Igarashi focuses on elemental forms in his work. These include: the dot; which is the smallest component of perception, lines; which define position and create an essence of boundary between planes, grids; which provide order, structure and balance, surfaces; which can appeal both to a visual and tactile viewpoint, and shapes; which combine with the above in the form of circles, triangles and prisms.
Mathematics
tructure