The Important Things

After reading "In Praise of Shadows," by Tanizaki Jun'ichero, I was reminded of how the small things in life can change an experience depending on the person and the situation. As designers, we must pay attention to the details that really make living life enjoyable and memorable. While lighting in a space may seem minute, one can see through this experience in the restaraunt that it can change an entire situation completely. I have never used laquerware, but reading about its history and the enjoyment that accompanies it, most definitely makes me want to experience it. I feel as though it represents the quality and richness that you can acquire from a meal, not just how quickly you can force food into your mouth and proceed to carry about your busy schedule.

In the second reading, "Hand Work-Machine Work," by Adolf Von Hildenbrand, the idea of "quality over quantity" is again reinforced. He paralells hand made objects to those that are mass produced by machines. One must look and realize that the significance lies in the way its made, not its perfection. While machine made products may look nice, they most certainly do not posess the same amount of beauty in regards to the time and effort it took to make it special and different from the rest. You must decide what is most important to you.

Handmade dishes

Machine-produced dishes

Works Cited:
Tanizaki, Jun’ichirō (1977). In praise of  shadows. (T.J. Harper and E.G. Seidensticker, trans.) Sedgwich, ME:
     Leete’s Island Books, Inc. (original work published in 1933).
Frank, Isabelle (editor) (2000). The theory of decorative art: An anthology of European and American writings 
     1750 – 1940. New York: Yale University Press.