‘A Brief Moment ( ) A Long Tradition’ is an aesthetic, poetic and beautiful book from @1616_arita_japan
Art direction, design and illustrations by the lovely and most talented women from @allthewaytoparis.

The book reflects on 1616 / arita japans’ rich 400-year history of craftsmanship and how it has been brought into the contemporary design scene by @momotanoriyuki in close collaboration with Creative Director and Designer @teruhiroyanagihara.
The collection of 1616 / arita japan is presented in its full and the porcelain makers are portrayed.

My part in it? As a chapter 16 artists from different fields were invited to give their personal views on a chosen plate by 1616 / arita japan. I was invited by @allethewaytoparis to contribute. This was in 2019! The brief: “For “16 People, 16 Plates” we kindly ask you to describe your perfect thing/things/food/idea to put on the plate. Your contribution can be a photo, a text, an illustration…”. They sent me 2 beautiful 1616 / arita Japan plates and I put them on the table for a while, to look at and get inspired by. One morning I noticed dried flower petals on the plate, coming from a bouquet I received weeks earlier on February 19, my birthday–this made me think about life and death. I thought about the random order the petals had on the plate, compared to the spiral pattern they have when being ‘alive’. Realizing this could be an accidental symbol of the universe on my plate, I scanned the combination of petals and plate and suddenly I saw the flower shape in the plate, leading me to think about Fibonacci.

23 × 29,5 × 3,5 cm, 224 pages / Clothbound hardcover
Available via @the_tableproject

Published in 2023