Though we all know the culturally impenetrable vision of Tokyo from Sophia Coppola's Lost in Translation was more than a little unfair, CLASKA, a very fine designers hotel in the Meguro district has undertaken a project to capitalise on the 'outsider looking in' theme.
Fourteen of the UK’s pioneering graphic designers were invited to Tokyo and charged with creating a poster based on their experiences. Individuals (James Goggin, Daniel Eatock and Adam Hayes) and studios (Bibliotheque, OK-RM and Spin to name a few) interpreted the city in their signature graphics and the results were shown in an exhibition at CLASKA in December.
CLASKA’s motivation behind the exercise, as well as introducing the crème de la crème of the UK graphic design scene to Tokyo, was to compile a guidebook for creative visitors, highlighting the outsider’s view of the city. The book, published by the hotel, is nearly finished and will be on sale in Japan and the UK. In the meantime we’ve got a selection of the posters and photographs of the process from Studio Kanna, who curated the exhibition.
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