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Article

Franck, Kaj  

Gordon Campbell

(b Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia) 1911; d Santorini, Greece, 1989).

Finnish ceramic and glass designer. In 1945 he joined Arabia porcelain factory, where he dispensed with the notion of the china set in favour of mix and match tableware. His best known series was ‘Kilta’ (designed in 1948, sold from 1953 and relaunched in 1981 as ‘Teema’), which was available in several colours and was enormously practical: he dispensed with decorative rims and shaped the surfaces so that they could be easily stacked. He also worked for the Nuutajärvi glassworks, for whom he produced both functional glass and decorative pieces. In both ceramics and glass, Kaj was probably the most influential designer of the 20th century....

Article

Izue, Yutaka  

Toshiaki Nagaya

[Hiroshi; Kan]

(b Kyoto, Aug 29, 1931).

Japanese architect. He graduated from the Civil Engineering Department of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, in 1957 and worked for two years at the Engineering Bureau of Kyoto University. From 1959 to 1976 he was a designer for Takenaka Komuten Co. Ltd, one of the largest construction companies in Japan, where he became vice-president. During this period he received training and learnt the essence of traditional Japanese aesthetics from Hiroyuki Iwamoto, Director of the design department and winner of the competition for the National Theatre in Tokyo.

In 1976 Izue established his own office in Osaka and started his career designing houses such as the Benigara Colour House (1977), Marugame, a traditional-style house in a rural setting, with red ochre-coloured walls. In the 1980s he became interested in sukiya zukuri (‘tea house construction’; see Japan, §XV, 2), an eclectic style of traditional Japanese residential architecture in which different materials and styles are combined according to the architect’s personal idea of spiritual beauty. The freedom and individuality of modern ...

Article

Kamekura, Yusaku  

Hiroshi Kashiwagi

(b Niigata, April 6, 1915; d 1997).

Japanese graphic designer. He studied principles of Constructivism at the Institute of New Architecture and Industrial Arts, Tokyo, a private institute established and run by Renshichiro Kawakita with the aim of introducing Bauhaus design theories in Japan; he graduated in 1935 and in 1938 joined the Nippon Kōbō design studio (now Publishing on Design Inc.). For over a decade from 1937 he worked as art director on a number of Japanese magazines, including Nippon and Commerce Japan. In 1951 he participated in the establishment of the Japan Advertising Arts Club, which secured social recognition for the profession of graphic designer. In 1955 he took part in the ‘Graphic ’55’ exhibition, together with Hiromu Hara, Paul Rand and others. Kamekura received an award from the Japan Advertising Arts Club in 1956 for a poster calling for peaceful use of atomic power. He co-founded the Nippon Design Centre (Tokyo) in 1960 with ...

Article

Liang, Baoci  

Chinese, 20th century, male.

Active in Malaysia.

Painter, draughtsman.

Baoci Liang is a painter and industrial designer who studied in the USA. In 1939 he founded an industrial art centre in Shanghai.

Article

Nakashima, George  

Gordon Campbell

(b Spokane, WA, 1905; d 1990).

American furniture designer and manufacturer. The son of Japanese parents, after an early career as an architect he turned in 1940 to furniture-making, initially in Seattle and then, after a period of internment, in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where in 1946 he estabished an independent workshop. The workshop produces both series and individual designs, always in solid hardwood with no veneers; designs reflect both American and Japanese traditions, but are contemporary rather than revivalist. Although Nakashima is sometimes described as one of the founding figures of the American craft movement, his workshop used machine tools and, in the case of his series designs, production methods to create furniture that looks hand-crafted. The workshop is still a family business, and is now run by his daughter Mira (b 1942).

The Soul of a Tree: A Woodworker’s Reflections (Tokyo and New York, 1981) D. Ostergard: George Nakashima: Full Circle (New York, 1989)...

Article

Pang Xunqin  

Cai Tao

[Pang Hiun-kin]

(b Changshou, Jiangsu province, Jun 20, 1906, d Beijing, Mar 18, 1985).

Chinese painter, designer, and educator. A prominent arts figure during the modern era, Pang is remembered for his abilities in and contributions to oil painting, industrial art design, and art research. He promoted the Western painting movement during China’s Republican era and is well known for having stayed and studied in France as an artist. He was also among the most important innovators of China’s industrial arts research and educational institutions.

Pang was born to parents of a prosperous family. He studied at Shanghai’s Aurora University from 1923 to 1924, and then in France between 1925 and 1930. After arriving in Paris, Pang visited the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925), an experience which left a lasting impression on him. Because he was not able to gain admission into the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he decided to study painting at the Académie Julian, and later, upon recommendation of ...

Article

Yanagi, Sori  

Gordon Campbell

(b 1915).

Japanese industrial designer , active in the USA. He worked in Charlotte Perriand ’s Japanese office, and in the 1950s emigated to the USA, where he designed two stools that have since become famous: the fibreglass ‘Elephant’ stool (1954), which was the first all-plastic stool, and the ‘Butterfly’ stool (...