Slanted 31 Tokyo

This essay considers the impact of Zen Buddhism on design and art and the interplay of this meditatively focused, historically, and culturally inspired approach to design. I wrote about two designers/artists that span centuries of Japanese art and design: Ikko Tanaka (1930 – 2002) one of Japan’s exemplary 20th-century graphic designers and Hon’ami Koetsu (1558–1637) one of Japan’s most admired artists. Both of these artists/designers show, through their unique work, several aspects of Zen-inspired action. Incidentally, I would regard the work of Ikko Tanaka to be a formative one in my own career so it was an honor to be able to write this essay about him and his design.