Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty [Hardcover]

Sunamita Lim (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 18, 2007

Japanese Style connects with and incorporates Japanese design traditions into the home. Adept at compact living and elegant simplicity, the Japanese embody the principle of doing more with less, and embrace the discipline it takes to rule out the unnecessary or frivolous. Author Sunamita Lim discusses these aesthetic ideals and cultural principles and reveals how designing with nature's beauty can create a simple and beautiful home.
Focuses on lessons for compact living and simplicity.
Includes sections on incorporating the Japanese aesthetic into home and garden, as well as information on historical periods in Japan.
Glossary and thorough bibliography for expanded research.
Sunamita Lim is a freelance writer and past editor of the art/design magazine Santa Fe Trend. Lim is the author of Chinese Style: Living in Beauty and Prosperity and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

It's easy to see why people are attracted to the Zen-like simplicity of Japanese interiors because the spare, neat rooms invite silent reflection, while offering tranquil repose in return. Japanese style also provides sanctuary from a chaotic world at the end of the day, thus gifting inner renewal to soul and spirit; and consequently, for outer mind and body too. The Japanese ethos thrives on creative ways for doing more, with less. For a life of luxury is, after all, a life of simplicity-by being free of unnecessary encumbrances. Our attraction to Japanese-style structures, interiors and gardens reflects a universal desire to live in natural harmony with self, others and the world-where the home environment reflects soulful sentiments of simplicity, sincerity, humility and purity; that continuously refresh spirit, emotions and body; and where every item performs at least one useful function, if not more, and is comfortable to the touch.
Japanese Style offers refreshing insights on the Japanese lifestyle to enhance your own home and garden, plus discover inspirations for daily living. Through gorgeous color photography, author Sunamita Lim shows how, by building with nature and embracing the discipline it takes to rule out the unnecessary or frivolous, you can incorporate the Japanese design aesthetic to create a simple and beautiful look.
Sunamita Lim's love of Japanese aesthetics goes beyond external impressions. She uncovers for readers a deeper significance that explains the important, spiritual role of beauty in Japanese culture and consciousness. Lim is author of the highly acclaimed Chinese Style: Living In Beauty and Prosperity, also filled with insights on how beauty transforms and fulfills, from within and without. A graduate of Kalamazoo College in Michigan and the University of Chicago, Lim is a freelance journalist and writer based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

About the Author

Sunamita Lim is a freelance writer and past editor of the art/design magazine Santa Fe Trend. Lim is the author of Chinese Style: Living in Beauty and Prosperity and resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith (July 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423600924
• ISBN-13: 978-1423600923
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #978,059 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zen Sanctuary, October 11, 2007

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty (Hardcover)

"The Japanese garden rearranges the natural landscape in order to create a new beauty from nature." ~ Hirotaro Ota

After reading Sunamita Lim's beautiful book: "Chinese Style," I was interested to know more about her new book: "Japanese Style." It is equally impressive with warm nurturing spaces created with wood and bamboo. While reading it is easy to imagine yourself wandering along stone pathways or sitting by a pond in a serene Japanese garden.

"Simple celebrations of everyday life can be as easy as kicking off your shoes at the front door to symbolize leaving behind the harried outer world, then lighting incense and being soothed by the subtle aroma of lavender wafting through the house." ~ pg. 76

I was intrigued by some of the designs, especially the cabinet made with maple, alder and burl woods. The bamboo gate leading out into a garden also looked inviting. While the gardens are filled with beautiful fountains and stone lanterns, the interiors are filled with soft fabrics, pillows and interestingly patterned rugs.

The teahouses are especially warm and inviting and Sunamita Lim's beautiful writing sets a mood for the traditional settings. This is the type of book you want to read while sitting in a comfy chair. Half the enjoyment is reading the well-placed quotes and imagining living in a refreshingly pure and soothing environment.

~The Rebecca Review

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Caricature of Japanese Architecture, December 3, 2007

By 

Sergio Rodriguez (Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty (Hardcover)

This book is very disappointing, is one of those typical books that publishers put together just to have more books on a certain subject. The examples are not only boring, but have no in dept analysis, the projects are few, and do no justice to the great examples of Japanese architecture (influenced) in North America, what a waste!

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty, April 4, 2008

By 

Yee "Yee" (LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty (Hardcover)

There are some interesting ideas, quotes and pictures in this book however I am still not clear about the meaning of "wabi sabi" even I read that section a few times....