Issey Miyake’s Poetic Vision and Work Chronicled in a New Book From TASCHEN
Helmed by his collaborator of nearly 50 years, Midori Kitamura.
Groundbreaking Japanese designer Issey Miyake is the subject of a namesake forthcoming book published by TASCHEN. The 448-page book will offer a comprehensive view of Miyake’s work between 1960, the year he enrolled in Tokyo’s Tama Art University, up until his death in 2022.
After graduating from university, Miyake went on to pursue work in Paris, beginning as an apprentice for Guy Laroche and later sketching designs for Hubert de Givenchy. After a short stint in New York, he returned to Tokyo and launched his eponymous brand in 1970.
The TASCHEN title will look at the early days of Miyake’s work, showcasing his artistic and graphic design pieces, a marker of his interest in texture and form years before he began designing clothing. Photographs of his materials and clothes will offer further insight into the lines he released through his design studio, including A Piece of Cloth concept, the 1980’s Body Series, the Miyake Pleats line and the famous Pleats Please pieces.
The book is being conceived and helmed by Midori Kitamura, the chairman of the Miyake Design Studio and the Miyake Issey Foundation, as well as the president of the design culture museum he founded, 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT. Kitamura had first visited Miyake’s studio as a fitting model at the age of 20 and went on to work alongside him for nearly 50 years.
Irving Penn and Yuriko Takagi are among the photographers that have contributed imagery to the book, while Kazuko Koike penned texts that form a chronology of Miyake’s work, as well as a personal profile on the designer.
TASCHEN’s Issey Miyake is priced at $100 USD and will be released in May 2024.
