Big, Thick and Yellow
Phaidon Design Classics - The 999 ultimate design classics

This beautifully illustrated three-volume set representing 999 industrially manufactured products. A MUST-HAVE for those who appreciate the finer things in life and are interested the history of taste and culture. From safety pins to clothes pegs, from the Rubik's Cube to Hasselbald cameras, the editors have done an excellent job in highlighting the constitution and evolution of design. At US$175, its quite an investment so to help you out, Phaidon has launched a flash website

http://www.phaidon.com/designclassics/
Find out what Philippe Starck, Terence Conran, Marc Newson has to say. Sample spreads featuring Zhang Xiaoquan's elegant pair of Chinese bonsai scissors from the early 1600s, still in production today, to Jasper Morrison's Brunch Set (2003) are also available. The collection comes in a specifically commissioned carrying unit exclusively designed by Konstantin Gricic.

Lost in Translation
The Michael Kenna Exhibition @ the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (the Images & Technology Gallery) from 20th May to 25th June, 2006. Entitled "In Japan", 150 photographic works of landscapes from all over Japan, such as "Hokkaido" the "88 Buddhist Temples in Shikoku", as well as a series of his previous works will be featured. Michael's photographs, often made at dawn or in the dark hours of night, concentrate on the interaction between natural landscape and man-made structures.

"I prefer the power of suggestion over description. Photography, for me, is not about copying the world.... If I use the analogy of writing, I feel that my work would be much closer to haiku poetry than full-length prose. " [Extracted from LensWork Interview 10th Anniversary Issue by Brooks Jensen]

An excellent selection of Michael's best works over the past three decades could be found in Michael Kenna: A Twenty Year Retrospective (ISBN 1590050193; Nazraeli Press). His next book Hokkaido is scheduled for publication in August '06. If you happen to be in Singapore, hop over to the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library to browse the following titles

• Ratcliffe Power Station
• Calais Lace
• Easter Island
• Japan
• Impossible to Forget

Tags: Michael Kenna