Side Pursuits and Design of Nobuhiro Yamaguchi.

As a graphic designer, I have also been an amateur letterpress printer and a haiku poet. Somewhere along the way, I came to believe that living through one's hobbies is a gentle form of rebellion against society.
— From the afterword

The essence of this book is already present in the passage quoted above. As the editor who had the privilege of accompanying this project from beginning to end, I would like to offer a brief introduction.

Everyone has a hobby or two. Among designers and artists in particular, there are occasionally remarkable figures whose passions grow so profound that whatever they undertake becomes unmistakably their own. Yet hobbies do more than produce works of expression. They can also become nourishment, taking root deep within both a person's work and their life.

Juzo Itami's devotion to home cooking and Yoshio Akioka's passion for bamboo dragonflies are examples of such pursuits. They may appear to be unrelated diversions, but it is often these seemingly unnecessary activities that quietly sustain a person's lifelong work .

Graphic designer Nobuhiro Yamaguchi has lived such a parallel life. He is an amateur letterpress printer, a haiku poet, a researcher of origata (the traditional Japanese art of ceremonial paper folding), a collector of antiques, and even a Shinto priest. This book brings together the many pursuits he has cultivated over the years, seeking to reconcile the visible and invisible sides of his life.

The opening essay, "The Story of My Unfinished work," and the closing essay, "A Gentle Rebellion," reflect on Yamaguchi's thoughts about shimatsu —a Japanese notion that embraces putting things in order, bringing matters to a close, and making thoughtful use of what remains. We hope you will enjoy discovering them for yourself.

The book is published by BONBOOK , the publisher behind Philippe Weisbecker's Homo Faber and Fumiko Takano's Book of Songs . It is the seventeenth volume in BONBOOK's limited-edition publishing series produced in collaboration with a long-established printing company. Last year, Yamaguchi designed Grandfather's Envelopes , Naked Shapes , and Koo Bohnchang's Everyday Treasure .

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Nobuhiro Yamaguchi

Graphic designer. Born in 1948. After leaving Kuwasawa Design School, he worked at Cosmo PR before establishing his independent practice in 1979. In 2001, he founded Yamaguchi Design Studio and, at the same time, the Origata Design Institute . His major works include the complete book design for the one-hundred-volume Sumai-gaku Taikei (Housing Studies Series) , published by Sumai no Toshokan Publishing, and serving as Art Director of SD magazine, published by Kajima Institute Publishing. His publications include Shiro no Shosoku (Rutles, 2006), Tsutsumi no Kotowari (private publishing, 2013), and the haiku collection Kana Kana no Shichi-Shichi Shijūkunichi Kana (private publishing, 2017). In 2018, he received the Mainichi Design Award for his pursuit of ORIGTA Design.