Thread: Books for Japanese Furniture

Not a furniture book, but one I think very basic and worth having is "A Japanese Touch for Your Home" http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/477...lance&n=283155

It's quite low-brow, but you'll get an understanding of the sorts of techniques and proportions that you can adapt to whatever you are doing.

It's twin, A Japanese Touch for Your Garden is pretty cool too!

Cheers,

P (oh and welcome!)

If you aren't in a big hurry, I can check out the names of some good books at the coffee shop I visit here has.

Good coffee, thousands of books with stuff on anything you can think of. Even Shakers...

Not sure when I will be there next though.

Oh yeah, welcome to the mad house.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

It's quite low-brow

Sounds like my kind of book

Originally Posted by craigb

Sounds like my kind of book

Not quite Craig, it's already coloured in.

P

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

It's quite low-brow,

What a bloody stupid thing to say!! I meant that it's a quite simple overview of many things Japanese wihtout lots of jargon!

I think.


P


therefore I am.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

Not quite Craig, it's already coloured in.

P

Originally Posted by crowbartexas

maybe a Japanese/Shaker mix sorta thing?

it sounds like any of George Nakashima's books would be right up your alley.

Nothing to colour-in in them either Ryan!


P

my 2 year old son would beg to differ. there's always something to colour in.

Originally Posted by Schtoo

...Good coffee, ...

In Japan? I'd like to see that!

Well, they are getting better at it.

At least they don't offer Pablo here. Although they do have Pablo's cousin, whose name eludes me for the moment...

Don't look like that, they do actually have decent coffee here, it's just expensive and in small cups, not in cans.

Again, at the risk of actually answering the question, I have purchased & would recommend the following books:

Traditional Japanese Furniture: A Definitive Guide by Kazuko Koizumi

Japanese Cabinetry: The Art & Craft of Tansu by David Jackson, Dane Owen

Tansu : Traditional Japanese Cabinetry by Ty Heineken

in about that order. All are available from Amazon, and some will be available from Kinokuniya's in Sydney as well as Dymocks City and possibly Borders until they sell out for Xmas.

If you are looking for something Shaker/Mission fused with Chinese/Asian, then look for books on 'Greene & Greene' - turn of the (last 2) century architects in California who made a specialty of designing such 'fusion' furniture. I don't have much (yet) one their furniture, but I am impressed with what I have seen - mainly Chinese influenced.

Also be aware that there are some abominable 'plans' and magazine DIY articles that purport to be 'G&G' styles designs - they are truely horrid & are about as 'G&G' as a box of breakfast cereal - probably less so, as the Greene brother's probably drew cubes in drawing class & ate breakfast cereal.

Originally Posted by bsrlee

All are available from Amazon, and some will be available from Kinokuniya's in Sydney as well as Dymocks City and possibly Borders until they sell out for Xmas.

Kinokuniya is in Sydney??? Since when?

It's also the bookstore I always hit when in Osaka. Looks like a small newsagents from the outside, bigger than 90% of bookstores I have seen anywhere. It just goes on and on and on and on and on...

Psst. Crowbartexas up there is from, as fate would have it, Texas. So Barnes and Noble might be a safe bet.

Originally Posted by Schtoo

If you aren't in a big hurry, I can check out the names of some good books at the coffee shop I visit here has.

Good coffee, thousands of books with stuff on anything you can think of. Even Shakers...

Not sure when I will be there next though.

Oh yeah, welcome to the mad house.

Thanks! I'm not in a big hurry, and I would definitely appreciate any info you could give me.