Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Mingei: Favor forms that line up together and avoid one piece standing out
- Type
- Set in Mingei's manner (Minimal marking, wording that states the use rather than the maker), and let MUJI's lettering (A light sans set small, its personality kept out of the way) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Mingei's material (Local materials and standing glazes, the same form made many times); bring in exactly one thing from MUJI (Unbleached or clear packaging printed with material and process).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Mingei The moment individual authorship is asserted the premise of anonymity collapses, and what remains is expensive craft merely performing plainness.
- MUJI Draining color and widening margins without the voice that explains reasons leaves expensive goods that merely look quiet.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Mingei (Style, 1926–) and its accent from MUJI (Style, 1980–). Structural cues: Anonymous craftsmanship; Form following use; The steadiness born of repetition; Local materials and hand habits. Accent cues, used sparingly: The restraint of plain and unbleached; The explanatory tag voice; Refusal of logo display; Material and process exposed. Composition: Favor forms that line up together and avoid one piece standing out. Type and lettering: Minimal marking, wording that states the use rather than the maker. Let one material quality come from the second style: Unbleached or clear packaging printed with material and process. Mood: Calm, Intimacy, Trust. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Mingei 1926– / Style / Craft Movements
Yanagi Sōetsu and his circle found 'the beauty of use' in the everyday wares of unnamed craftsmen. By making anonymity, repetition and utility the measure of healthy form, the movement became the bedrock of Japanese design thought.
- MUJI 1980– / Style / Contemporary Branding
A brand of namelessness that began with the line 'lower priced for a reason'. Ornament and logo display are pared away until only the reasons behind material and process remain, a thinking passed from Ikko Tanaka to Kenya Hara that made 'this will do', not 'this is the one', a global aesthetic.
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