Summer 2022
In your own time
Nakajo
Designed by Kazunari Hattori and Yukata Sato. ADP, hardback, £77
There are some designers who create a body of work that is ahead of its time; there are others who create work that lags behind or is resolutely of its time; and there are a few, quite exceptional designers/artists, whose work defines its own time – Masayoshi Nakajo was one of these. This compendium of Nakajo’s work over the past 50 years, elegantly designed with great sensitivity by Kazunari Hattori, is a worthy testament to the consistency of Nakajo’s craft, his playful inventiveness and singularity of spirit. The work within is always ‘fresh’, dancing in its own unique way.
To the western eye, Nakajo’s work is impossible to date. The book’s cover illustration, for example, is from 1973. Quite frankly, it could have been created yesterday. Great work, of any kind, not only stimulates us but also encourages us to experiment and invent within our own terms of expression …
Cover of Nakajo. Top. Spread for Hanatsubaki magazine, March 1972. Photograph by Akira Sato.
John Warwicker-le Breton graphic designer, educator, Tomato, Melbourne
Read the full article in Eye no. 103 vol. 26, 2022
Eye is the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal, published for professional designers, students and anyone interested in critical, informed writing about graphic design and visual culture. It is available from all good design bookshops and online at the Eye shop, where you can buy subscriptions and single issues.