After the visual excesses of the first decade of the new millennium, there now appears to be a distinct demand for clear and rational, yet forward-thinking, design. Seamlessly melding aesthetics, functionality, and quality while simultaneously avoiding excess has been a foundation of Japanese handicraft for hundreds of years. Creatives from Japan are masters at skillfully combining rational functionality with a contemporary sense of design in a way that seems effortless and even playful.

Sublimeis a comprehensive collection of the relevant trends in Japanese design that reveals the country’s overall design aesthetic. The book presents architecture, interiors, and products that are created with an approach that is both rational and visionary. The results of this striking combination often appear futuristic and somehow transcendent. Japanese architecture is adept at bringing inner and outer areas of buildings together harmoniously. Even the smallest rooms can seem surprisingly spacious.

Sublimeexplores the impact of the interplay between old-style handicraft and modern technology as well as traditional and high-tech materials on Japanese design. It features work by established names such as Naoto Fukasawa, Tokujin Yoshioka, Kengo Kuma, and Nendo, and introduces talent from a new generation that has found its own design style somewhere between a traditional Japanese approach and modern or post-modern influences.

As the book clearly shows, a Japanese design philosophy based on local traditions has not only survived a general trend toward Westernization, but it is also being translated into outstanding examples of contemporary visual culture around the world.