Eastern promise: a timeline of Japanese design on show at Manchester Art Gallery
In the first exhibition since its reopening, Manchester Art Gallery's newly restored Design Gallery has been filled with over a hundred pieces of modern Japanese costume, furniture and crafts collections. Formerly a 19th century Athenaeum theatre space, the Grade II listed building is currently playing host to over 100 pieces by 32 designers drawn from the gallery's own sizeable collections.
The pieces, which span fashion, furniture, lighting, ceramics, glass, metalwork and jewellery serve as an overview of the past 50 years of Japanese design as well as an insight into the influence of Buddhism on Japanese aesthetic principles such as minimalism, deconstruction and wabi-sabi.
Highlights include two dramatic head pieces crafted by recent Royal College of Art graduate Maiko Takeda, who has previously created headdresses for Björk's Biophilia tour and now works for Issey Miyake in Japan; fashion by Issey Miyake and Yohji Yamamoto; furniture and lighting by Masanori Umeda and Shiro Kuramata; and crafts by Takahiro Yede and Yasuko Sakura. As well as the work of Japanese designers, the showcase also looks further afield with the inclusion of works by leading UK artists and makers such as star ceramicist Edmund de Waal.
INFORMATION
'Modern Japanese Design' is on view until 15 January 2017 at Manchester Art Gallery. For more information visit Manchester Art Gallery's website
ADDRESS
Mosley Street
Manchester, M2 3JL
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Ali Morris is a UK-based editor, writer and creative consultant specialising in design, interiors and architecture. In her 16 years as a design writer, Ali has travelled the world, crafting articles about creative projects, products, places and people for titles such as Dezeen, Wallpaper* and Kinfolk.
-
Olfactory Art Keller: the New York gallery exhibiting the smell of vintage perfume, blossoming lilacs and last night’s shame
Olfactory Art Keller is a Manhattan-based gallery space dedicated to exhibiting scent as art. Founder Dr Andreas Keller speaks with Lara Johnson-Wheeler about the project, which doesn’t shy away from the ‘unpleasant’
By Lara Johnson-Wheeler Published
-
Explore a barn conversion with a difference on the Isle of Wight
Gianni Botsford Architects' barn conversion transforms two old farm buildings into an atmospheric residence and artistic retreat, The Old Byre
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Audi launches AUDI, a China-only sub-brand, with a handsome new EV concept
The AUDI E previews a new range of China-specific electric vehicles from the German carmaker’s new local sub-brand
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The Turner Prize 2024 opens at Tate Britain
The Turner Prize 2024 shortlisted artists are Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Peggy Guggenheim: ‘My motto was “Buy a picture a day” and I lived up to it’
Five years spent at her Sussex country retreat inspired Peggy Guggenheim to reframe her future, kickstarting one of the most thrilling modern-art collections in history
By Caragh McKay Published
-
Please do touch the art: enter R.I.P. Germain’s underground world in Liverpool
R.I.P. Germain’s ‘After GOD, Dudus Comes Next!’ is an immersive installation at FACT Liverpool
By Will Jennings Published
-
‘Regeneration and repair is a really important part of how I work’: Bharti Kher at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Bharti Kher unveils the largest UK museum exhibition of her career at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
By Will Jennings Published
-
‘Mental health, motherhood and class’: Hannah Perry’s dynamic installation at Baltic
Hannah Perry's exhibition ’Manual Labour’ is on show at Baltic in Gateshead, UK, a five-part installation drawing parallels between motherhood and factory work
By Emily Steer Published
-
Francis Alÿs plots child play around the world at the Barbican
In Francis Alÿs' exhibition ‘Ricochets’ at London’s Barbican, the artist explores the universality of play, even in challenging situations
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
At Glastonbury’s Shangri-La, activism and innovation meet
Glastonbury’s south-east corner is known for its after-dark entertainment but by day, there is a different story to tell
By Rhian Daly Published
-
Suzannah Pettigrew's 'tender and ghostly' new show at Surrealist photographer Lee Miller's former home in East Sussex
London-based artist Suzannah Pettigrew's photographic stills create a snapshot of her Sussex coast childhood, conjuring up a hallucinatory world of memory
By Mary Cleary Published