Mingei
民藝 / 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.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Anonymous craftsmanship
- Form following use
- The steadiness born of repetition
- Local materials and hand habits
Best used for
- Setting the form and the reachable price of everyday wares meant for daily use
- Retail and presentation that make the maker and the region the subject
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Minimal marking, wording that states the use rather than the maker
- Composition
- Favor forms that line up together and avoid one piece standing out
- Material
- Local materials and standing glazes, the same form made many times
- Caution
- The moment individual authorship is asserted the premise of anonymity collapses, and what remains is expensive craft merely performing plainness.
- Further study
- Yanagi Sōetsu, The Way of Crafts / Hamada, Kawai and Bernard Leach / the tension between mingei and modern design
Related entries
- Arts and Crafts (アーツ・アンド・クラフツ)Same Craft Movements lineage.Compare Mingei and Arts and Crafts
- Scandinavian Modern (スカンジナビアン・モダン)Shared effects: Intimacy / Calm / Trust.Compare Mingei and Scandinavian Modern
Often confused with
More from Craft Movements
Continue through styles in the same Craft Movements family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Pysanky (プィーサンカ)Shared effects: Intimacy / Calm.
- Papel Picado (パペル・ピカド)Shared effects: Intimacy.
- Jianzhi (Chinese Paper Cutting) (剪紙)Shared effects: Intimacy.
Browse all Craft Movements entries
Cite this entry
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- https://indexstyle.org/styles/mingei
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- [Mingei — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/mingei)
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