Touch Base

Posted by Lisa & Rena

We are texture junkies. Rena is a terror to museum guards, as she is always stretching her fingers longingly toward the art.

There's a word for this: haptic. It means “of or relating to the sense of touch.” Recently, we’ve been enjoying three books, all mysterious white volumes that are each haptic experiences, both in form and content.

Sheila Hicks uses a very tactile medium -- weaving -- and explores it using nontraditional materials and rhythms, creating lovely design. Her book "Weaving as Metaphor" is a large, soft brick and wonderful to hold; Dutch designer Irma Boom won a "most beautiful book in the world" award for the design.

Kenya Hara, who is, among other things, the art director of MUJI, comes from the other direction, imbuing the clean cold world of design with texture and emotion. The book "Designing Design" has many examples of inventive and minimalist projects that explore haptics, and it also goes into detail about the MUJI no-design philosophy.

Finally, Giuliana Michelotti works with mostly sterling silver and rough, uncut precious stones to make jewelry that seems to be shaped by nature itself, as seen in her book "Inform."

Comments

[Rachel]

I work at an art school library and we just got a new book called Tactile: High Touch Visuals, and it is FANTASTIC. It's about analog design, art direction, and illustration. Very exciting.

[Carrie]

Is that blue ring PMC formed around a gem? I just love the blend of the silver which is almost shapeless and the symmetry of the cut stone.

[lena]

wow, these all look wonderful.