WA: The Essence of Japanese Design: 0000

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Organisational wide innovation requires sharing of information, a clear understanding of the relationship between all staff and the corporation. Where Americans celebrate failure in public, the Japanese will keep it within the company. Over the generations, the Japanese created an extensive vocabulary of aesthetic terms that made it possible for them to describe the physical as well as the metaphysical attributes of their culture, and of their arts and crafts. Like floral patterns, geometric patterns are the most distinguishable form of Japanese design. Here are some Japanese geometric patterns that you can include in your design: The Famous Japan-Inspired Wave Design Shibui can be translated as astringent, simple, conservative, rough, elegant, unaffected. Some of Japan's greatest tea masters used the word to sum up the nature of beauty. Wagara, or traditional Japanese patterns, are a form of pattern that is unique to Japan. The most well-known of them takes a single design and turns it into a pattern by systematically applying it to the material whether cloth, fabric, or clothing.

In Japan, Kagome is viewed as a protective pattern, like a fence against devils and misfortune. Kanoko (Fawn) Another express example of minimalism in Japanese creative arts is haiku poetry. Standalone haiku poems emerged in the 17th century as a response to traditional Japanese poetry called renga, which usually consisted of 100 stanzas. The people and places in the "pleasure quarters" were popular subjects in ukiyo-e. These artworks were reproducible and used bright, flat colors and striking designs. Ukiyo-e were produced mainly to adorn the homes of wealthy or noble families and up-and-coming business people. Miyabi: Miyabi is translated as “elegance” or “refinement.” Although it’s not as popular as wabi-sabi, it is one of the traditional principles in Japanese aesthetics. Why do many established and often well-managed companies struggle with disruptive innovation? Many times it is simply because companies have been doing the same things, in the same ways, and for the same reasons for so long, that they struggle with the concept of change. Disruptive business models focuson creating, refining, reengineering or optimising a product or service. Most people assume disruption occurs with the introduction of new technology but that often isn’t the case.Whether it's viewing the falling cherry blossoms or being attentive to the calls of wild birds, mono no aware permeates Japanese culture. It is the idea that life is valuable precisely because it doesn't last forever. This explains why you'll often see symbols like cherry blossoms, birds, mountains, etc., in Japanese visual arts and design. Another example of mono no aware is Ise Grand Shrine Complex in Ise, Japan, which consist of 120 shrines. What is fascinating about the Ise Shrine Complex is that all the shrines are torn down and rebuilt every 20 years. This is a tradition that has been ongoing for 1,300 years and is based on the Shinto religion’s celebration of the impermanence of all things and nature’s death and renewal cycles. An additional benefit of this tradition is it serves as a method of passing on traditional building techniques from one generation to the next.

The Japanese architects use large windows or Shoji to introduce tons of natural light into a Japanese house. Shoji is a Japanese style door, window, or room separating apparatus. They are made of wood and lined with paper. Since its early days, nature — more specifically, mountains — have been a common subject in Japanese art. With more than half of the population practicing Shinto, the Japanese are very spiritual and hold many supernatural beliefs. One of them is the belief that images of nature and landscapes act as a portrait of the sacred world in which the kami, or deities, exist. Here is a landscape painting of Mt. Penglai by Taikan Yokoyama, a very important figure in Japanese art history.

Mono no Aware

SugoiJPN is a UK-based brand that creates Japanese fusion street food. Their logo features a kawaii character wearing a headband with the Rising Sun emblem on it. Within the traditional religion of Japan, Shinto, the concept of mono no aware developed as an intense awareness of one's place in the world. Later on, when Buddhism was introduced in the 5th century in China, mono no aware was also used to describe the Buddhist concept of the transitory nature of life or impermanence. Kawaii also has a strange connotation to femininity - in the one sense asserting feminine ideas and buying power, on the other hand suppressing feminine emancipation by portraying women as cute and dumb (have you ever noticed that Hello Kitty doesn't have a mouth?). Minimalism is a Japanese design trend that has influenced designers worldwide because of its austerity, simple beauty, and the philosophy of owning fewer things but giving them a higher value.