Daijiro Mizuno

Writer; Editor; Educator / Japan /

www.daijirom.com

Daijiro Mizuno’s Notable Books of 2011

Christmas is coming soon. And I wonder, if I am to give a book as a Christmas present, what will people feel? What will be inside the glossy gift wrap? What impression will people have as they open it?

Books are to be read and are seen as a great source of information. But even before that, we recognize them as tangible objects through their presence and perceptual stimuli. I want the gift books inside the wrapping to be beautiful—in both the tactile and visual sense. I believe in the holistic experience of reading books as the sum of smell, weight, texture, and look. . . . View the complete text

Books are to be read and are seen as a great source of information. But even before that, we recognize them as tangible objects through their presence and perceptual stimuli. I want the gift books inside the wrapping to be beautiful—in both the tactile and visual sense. I believe in the holistic experience of reading books as the sum of smell, weight, texture, and look.

So I thought that heavy books would be nice (but not too heavy, like a dictionary). I selected three heavy books: on fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, on artist Tacita Dean, and on product designer Sam Hecht, all of whom I appreciate.

In addition, I decided to select OLIVE, a book edited by a young Japanese product designer called Nosigner. Based on the voluntary and virtual mass collaboration that occurred on Twitter immediately after the March 11, 2011, Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, this book introduces many great designs created through bricolage and intended for survival under extreme conditions.

March 11 is a devastating day to remember for many Japanese. The earthquake, record-breaking tsunami, and nuclear power plant explosion seriously damaged the culture. I am currently working with Architecture for Humanity to support the reconstruction at Shizugawa, as tsunami-hit areas are still struggling. I wanted to select this book in memory of those who died in this triple disaster and of those in the many other disaster-stricken areas around the world.

冬休みがいよいよ迫ってきた。

私は、本を人にプレゼントするとき、もらった人はどう思うかを考える。包み紙の中に入っているのは、果たして何がいいのだろうか？包み紙を開けたとき、どのような感動があるだろうか？

本には「見られ、読まれる」情報である以前に、モノとしての現前性、知覚的刺激によって認識される。包み紙が破られて現れるモノが、視覚的にも触覚的にも読者にとって美しい体験であって欲しい。私は視触覚的な感動がもたらす総合的体験が「情報」と等価であることを信じている。

そこで、私は自身が実際に手にとったことのある３つの「重い」本をまず選定基準にした。フセイン・チャラヤン、タシタ・ディーン、サム・ヘクトと、ファッション、ファインアート、プロダクトとそれぞれ領域が異なるものをあえて選んだつもりである。

また、軽くて小さな本ではあるが、nosigner編のOLIVEを紹介することにした。2011年3月11日は、日本に住む人のみならず、世界中の人にとって津波、地震、原子力発電所の事故に見舞われた日本の東北地方は衝撃を与えた。筆者も11月からArchitecture for Humanityとのコラボレーションプロジェクトを志津川にて展開しているが、被災地は未だ十全に整備されていない。私は、災害のリマインダーとしてこの本を選び、この年に災害で亡くなった世界中の人に追悼の意を表すことにした次第である。

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