Author(s): Mira Locher, Takashi Sugimoto

RESTAURANTS & BARS | ALL THINGS JAPANESE

"We do not live only with clear-cut forms; rather, we exist in a world of forms that are often indistinct and vague." --Takashi Sugimoto, architect and James Beard Award-winning author Super Potato Design presents the work of internationally-renowned Japanese designer Takashi Sugimoto.

After studying metal sculpture at Tokyo University of Fine Arts, Sugimoto began his career designing a series of bars and restaurants including the iconic Radio Bar that became a favorite hangout for designers like Issey Miyake, Ikko Tanaka, Yohji Yamamoto and Tadao Ando.  He was soon recruited to design retail spaces including the original Muji "no-brand" shops along with hotels, tea ceremony spaces and wedding chapels. Super Potato's striking interiors have totally revolutionized Japanese design through the use of exposed concrete surfaces, rough-hewn timber and unevenly cut stone juxtaposed with salvaged metal and repurposed objects to create a sense of power and timelessness.

The design vocabulary created by Sugimoto is universally imitated today (in Japan and throughout the world). It is what we now think of as "modern Japanese design" - although Sugimoto's own work has never been surpassed.

Super Potato Design presents 40 of Sugimoto's most important projects in 320 full-color photographs by Yoshio Shiratori, who has worked with the designer since the beginning.  Author and architect Mira Locher introduces Sugimoto's work and provides a thorough description for each project.  A foreword by Tadao Ando and discussions with architect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama and graphic designer Kenya Hara explore the direction of Japanese design today.  A list of Super Potato's complete works rounds off this fascinating book.