Customer Reviews

Blue and White Japan

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is wonderfully photographed and written, focusing on the history of blue-and-white textiles and pottery of Japan. Just turning the pages gives a Zenlike feeling of rightness. Table settings, linens and furnishings don't have to match to give you a feeling of eating and living in calm and harmony

I live in Japan and purchased this book to see how people inter mix all the different blue and white dishes, materials and clothing. Great book to have for decorating your home. Can not wait to get to a few more Shrine Sales to pick up some more Blue and Whites.

I really loved this book. It has wonderful photography and is an interesting read. I particularly like the fact that the author grew up in a western country, and now lives in Japan, because she shares her outlook from a Western eye, which is helpful to a Western reader who loves antiques and collectables, along with blue and white. I love the way the photos blend the simplicity of Japanese style along with a little Western taste in collecting things. It has a nice balance of not over doing the display of cherished things, while still enjoying them in the home. To me it had a very "Zen" feel of harmony and beauty, and had a feeling of "coming home" to things I love when I looked at this book. I felt inspired to rearrange my collections and cut clutter while still displaying favourite items in a complimentary way.

I bought this copy for a friend since I love it so much. It's beautiful and inspiring if you are a fan of Japanese textiles and other crafts.

This book was enjoyable, but as I already had some knowledge of Japanese interior design and related subjects, I found this book to be largely a quick skim over the various crafts, with the exception of the moderately useful guide to Imari porcelains. The concepts and photos are largely the author's own collection of pieces, which are lovely, but I would have liked to see more variety. No sources for purchase were listed for those of us living outside Japan, which is regrettable but understandable. The book is also concentrated on southern and Okinawan styles of decor, which are lovely, but not always suitable for colder climates.

My largest quibble was with the book's blithe assurances that blue and white items can be thrown together in any fashion and still look great. While it's true that a solid color scheme can harmonize an otherwise non-matched set of items, this really isn't sufficient advice for a decorating scheme. I would have liked to see more well-thought-out ideas for incorporating Japanese motifs into Western or modern decor, using blue and white along with any other colors or materials (little is mentioned of the constant presence of wood in Japanese decor), and so on.

The photography is lovely, and I did come away with a few new ideas, but I would recommend other books either to someone surveying Japanese decor for the first time or to someone looking for an in-depth examination of Japan's blue and white crafts.