The Design Heritage of Noren, Traditional Japanese Storefront Art,

182 S. Umschlag leicht berieben, sonst gutes Exemplar. - "I wanted to photograph this place again, " Tadashi Masuda says of one stop on his travels to photograph noren, "but the house had been rebuilt with modern building material, and a plastic signboard was hanging in front." A plastic sign was hanging in front: this is the heart wrenching core of progress, and every field knows the pressure, the assumed need to "upgrade" a "look" with materials that are colorful, economical, and easy to maintain. But as with the crests and commercial symbols of noren, lost in the process are the centuries of associations that blend culture and family history with a splendid heritage of design a true kind of graphic genius. These ancient Japanese signs and banners were the first form of advertising. In truth, their primitive origin centuries ago was as dividers separating the kitchen and living areas of a home from the rooms where the family conducted its retail business. The banner, the noren, was hung so that people could not look in and see the family quarters. Logically, then, these noren incorporated the crest or some other graphic symbol of the family enterprise. Also logically, these cloth banners came to have great meaning. They were a focus, a symbol of family pride and even family honor, the idea of being held to a standard of behavior that would not "dishonor" the family noren. ISBN 9780870407703