White

Absolutely great book, and beautiful edition! If you‘re into design and philosophy, the concept of emptiness in Japanese culture will blow your mind.

This is (if one opens ones mind) one of the most riveting and source finding books on Zen.

I recommend an excellent book. An everyday observation with reflections on Japanese aesthetics and sensitive. The book explores the correlation between whiteness and pureness.

After I finished this book I jumped in to Tanizaki's 'In Praise of Shadows' - also about Japanese aesthetics. I have to say, Tanizaki is a way better writer - at times 'White' reads a bit like a high school essay. The book also has some fallacies and at times ignores scientific thinking, where it could actually put it to good use. Maybe it's the subtleties of Japanese reasoning that escape me. There was one element of this book however, that I found priceless and that makes this book a solid 4 stars instead of 2 or 3 for me. If you've read greek Sophists or 'The Art of Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance' by Robert Pirsig, you'll appreciate the moment where Kenya successfully likens White to Quality or areté. This alone helped greatly in translating what I learned from 'The Art of Zen...' directly to design and made the book well worth reading. If you don't tend to read 'these books' however, I wouldn't suggest starting with 'White'. It may seem tedious and unrewarding.

Brilliantly written book about the simple and minimalistic Japanese ethos, no matter to whether it's related to the design of a product or in day-to-day activities, the author manages to find a correlation between "White" and how this principle of "Pureness" is present amongst these.

I regretted getting this book, I was hoping it contained concepts and background of simple/Japanese design from the art director however instead it was more about “artsy poetic thoughts”.

It wasn’t what I was hoping for