Endorsements

'Systematically and eloquently taking us through the most important thinking on design and its place in our symbolic and social order, Ory Bartal brings out the myriad social critiques in Japanese material culture. Richly illustrated, entertaining and insightful, this book is essential for anyone seriously interested in Japanese design.' Toby Slade, Keio University Critical avant-garde design emerged in Japan during the tumultuous 1960s and remains influential today. Its proponents drew on postmodern aesthetics, critical theory and new economic rules to create a ground-breaking visual language that also operates as a socio-political critique. This book provides a new perspective on the field. Demonstrating the power of materiality to offer a discourse that extends beyond purely aesthetic concerns, it reveals how the radical aesthetic of these objects provides a means of engaging with social issues. In doing this it shifts the definition of design from the production of unnecessary decorative and conceptual objects to the creation of a new material and visual culture charged with social and emotional roles that shape and even police human behaviour. Additionally, the book distances the reader from the stereotypical characterisation of Japanese design as beautiful, sublime or a product of 'Japanese culture'. It clarifies the social meaning of this aesthetic and the ways in which material and visual culture served designers to voice protest and formulate a social critique.