Customer Reviews

Japanese Style: Designing with Nature's Beauty

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"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

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!

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....