Graphic Journey Blog

Sandy Powell: Costume design.

In episode three of the RDInsights podcast series, I am in conversation with the three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell RDI, who was recently awarded the prestigious BAFTA Fellowship for her “outstanding and exceptional contribution to film”. she shared her views of being up close and personal with actors and with advice on what you need to survive in the film business. This recording is from the RDI sound archive of 2016. To listen click HERE.

Sir Paul Smith

Fashion designer Sir Paul Smith RDI shares with Mike Dempsey RDI his story of leaving school at age fifteen, the accident that curtailed his hopes of being a racing cyclist to global recognition for his sartorial creations and much more in this revealing interview.
Listen HERE

Jenny Frean: A kaleidoscope of colour

This is Jenny Frean RDI, the award-winning British textile designer.
I had the great pleasure of recording an interview with her last month about her life and work. It's a delightful story.

Here is a tiny sampling of her work.

To hear the interview click HERE.

Georgina von Etzdorf: A kaleidoscope of colour

I make no bones about this post: it’s a plug for my dear friend Georgina von Etzdorf. She is a wonderful textile designer – her use of silk jacquard, velvet and chiffon with vibrant swirls, diamonds and stars, plus splashes of emotional intensity, singles her out as special. She works the fabric into scarves, ties, gloves, dressing gowns, blouses, waistcoats, etc. Over the years, through her company GvE&Co, she has sprinkled her magic on everyone from rock stars to royalty, all falling in love with her creations. She has a natural intuition when it comes to colour combinations and employs them where others would fear to tread, with her stunning results attracting followers from around the world. In 1997 she was made an RSA Royal Designer for Industry.

The Malaga retreat

The combination of an economic downturn and misfortune forced GvE&Co to temporarily close. In recent years, Georgina has spent a lot of time at her farmhouse high in the hills above Malaga, Spain, reassessing her life and work. Inspired by the landscape and changing seasons, she has been consumed by painting. Out of this extended sojourn have come many new ideas.

Work jacket with a twist

In 2013, Georgia collaborated with fashion designer Margaret Howell to create a shirt. It was an interesting proposition to harness the relative calm of Howell and the exuberance of von Etzdorf. The result was not a shirt but an almost wartime, utilitarian, genderless, hardwearing work jacket (above) with subtle flashes of colour in the edge piping. Margaret Howell recalls:

“When Georgina came through the door of our studio clutching a packet of West Country biscuits and an old pyjama jacket, her face beaming, brimming with enthusiasm, I realised little had changed since I first met her at her degree show in 1977. I was impressed then by her colours and painterly approach.”

In 2017, von Etzdorf reconnected with her old creative partner Jonathan Docherty to re-energise GvE&Co with a new range of textile designs, which were applied to a limited range of exquisite products – from cushions and rugs to pillows and robes. And if you want to understand the sensual delights of wearing the most perfect silk, you can’t beat this review from GvE&Co fan Coco Campbell...

Coco, experiencing the silkiest of silky moments, twice over.

“My dressing gown is, without doubt, the singular most glorious piece of clothing I own. As well as floating around in it at any given opportunity at home, I also wear it out – leather belted as a dress. Any excuse to have that silk against my skin and to show off the stunning print and impossibly beautiful colours. I have never felt sexier than when wearing it. I have never had more flattering comments than when wearing it. It’s like discovering a delicious secret that makes me gasp and gives me nothing but joy.”

Cotton velvet cushions and woven wool rugs

What makes GvE&Co’s products so special is the stunning printing techniques, developed through continual experimentation over many years and always used on the most beautiful fabrics. Her new range is now available to see and purchase from the new GvE&Co website at the foot of this post.

Limited edition 'Poppy' giclee print -1977/1981

Here’s Georgina in a recent interview with Annabel Ross, broadcaster and creator of the blog ‘Messages from the Wild’ HERE.

And if you enjoyed that one, here’s a far longer recording made for my RDInsight series when I visited Georgina in Spain a few years ago. It’s a jolly good story about success and failure with a lot of laughs along the way, as there is always a sense of fun leaching below the surface with Georgina. To hear the interview, click HERE.

And for more information about GvE&Co here is the new website: click HERE.

Tribal Dress

At the recommendation of a friend, I watched the documentary ‘Objectified’ on Vimeo. It’s about the world of product design and the philosophy of some of the leaders in the field. With the documentary made in 2011, the array of cutting-edge products featured are already looking dated. Creating a timeless classic is an elusive thing. It made me realise that even with talk of designing for longevity and saving the planet, most of the designers existed as instruments for their clients – in exchange for their investments, the clients wanted ever newer stuff to sell. Many of the designers were quick to defend their position.

Jonathan Ive

Apple’s original Head of Design, Jonathan Ive, who had a closely shaven head and a toned body encased in a tight-fitting grey T-shirt, eulogised about the wonderful detailing of Apple products and their passion to stamp out waste during the production process. And there can be no doubt that Apple products are beautifully engineered and designed. But there was no talk about the relentless pursuit of selling new replacement versions of their iPhones, laptops and watches. We are expected to upgrade yearly, tossing away what is in itself a marvel of manufacturing technology and ingenuity. 

Dieter Rams, less

This is in direct contrast with the view of German designer Dieter Rams, who believes that well-designed products should last a lifetime. This has been proven by the longevity of Rams’ own 606 Vitsœ shelving system design in the 1960s, which is still in production and does last forever. The irony is that the iPhone has had many more design decisions made during its complex creation, but it has become a yearly throwaway fashion item with inbuilt obsolescence – a shocking indictment of 21st-century design. 

One half of the concept for a revolutionary toothbrush.

On the topic of longevity, ‘Objectified’ features a brainstorming session where a group of excitable, young, T-shirted designers, armed with Magic Markers and Post-it notes, had gathered in the London offices of design consultancy Ideo to ‘redefine the toothbrush’ – how it could be made more sustainable, how to reduce plastic waste, etc. After a morning of intense discussion, enthusiasm and a wall covered in multi-coloured messages and drawings, they came up with the earth-shattering idea of a detachable brush head.

This was followed by much CAD drawing, and 3D model making and construction to end up with an uncomfortable marriage of a Scandinavian-style wood-stemmed spoon handle fused onto a plastic toothbrush head. It looks pretty clumsy, and I don’t recall ever seeing it on sale, so perhaps the whole thing was staged to highlight an example of ‘design thinking’ in action. Better to have suggested bamboo toothbrushes with eco-friendly, plant-based bristles (below) – job done. 

But thank goodness there were great examples of design longevity from two masters: Dieter Rams and Naoto Fukasawa. But my attention was diverted from what the product designers designed to what they were wearing. I have written in the past about the political class and their sartorial choices, in particular the inmates of the House of Lords (link at the end), but I digress – let’s stick to the ‘design tribe’ and their dress code.

I live in Clerkenwell: an area in London with a high percentage of architectural firms. Looking out of my studio window at lunchtime, I witness a steady stream of young, ethnically diverse architects, all clad in regulation black. It’s amazing and consistent across most architectural firms.

Just four of many key architects who favour black

But then again there are always detractors. 

Richard Rogers green is the colour.

such as Richard Rogers, with his love of apple-green, collarless shirts, combined with lapis lazuli slacks, or his partner Mike Davies, whose mode of dress is entirely devoted to the colour red.

Mike Davies, the man in red. 

I am assuming that it’s not just a surface thing and am imagining that he wears red Y-fronts – actually, I don’t want to imagine that. The doyen of contemporary interiors, Terence Conran, is more conservative, but he has consistently favoured Klein Blue shirts to stamp his brand colour.

Terence Conran in his signature Klein Blue shirt.

Artists originally wore smocks to protect their clothing, and many industries spawned practical and protective industrial clothing.

Henri Matisse in a fetching brown artist smock.

In the 1940s and 50s commercial artists wore them like Abram Games.

The US railroad workers’ dungarees and jacket and the French farmworkers’ jacket are classical, hard-wearing and practical items that found their way into the hearts of many designers, the only difference being that they wear a tighter-fitting, restyled version that costs ten times as much as you would pay in authentic hardware stores. And these 21st-century incarnations never see oil, grease or grime.

The classic US Oshkosh denim workwear jacket

The classic French farmworkers jacket for a few euros.

The 21st-century French farmworkers jacket inspired fashion item at £250.

Graphic designer, Chip Kidd seems to be channelling the 1950s British TV character Billy Bunter (below).

Graphic designer, Ken Garland with his signature colourful embroidered rimless cap. 

Graphic designer, Vim Crowell in his futuristic outfit.

Massimo and Lella Vignelli created their own roomy outfits for themselves and staff.

Frank Lloyd Wright favoured a cape and a low-crowned hat.

Le Corbusier's glasses resurfaced in the 1980s to become an essential fashion statement for well know graphic designers of the period. 

The minimalist John Pawson perfectly complimenting his work (below)

Back in 1987 when I was running my old company, Carroll, Dempsey & Thirkell, one of my young assistants ruined a brand new, and rather expensive, white shirt while using a Rotring ink pen. This was before everything was produced in the hygienic digital world and Cow Gum, paints, inks and scalpels were the norm, along with the occasional bloody accident while brandishing the latter. The ink-stained white shirt set me thinking that perhaps we should have some kind of protection.

This photo was taken by the late Terry O'Neill (top left) for Elle magazine. It shows the shortlisted studio 'work jackets' worn by a range of creatives, that's me top right with hair! I'd commissioned students of the St Martin's School of Art fashion department back in in 1988. The winner was Julie Philipson (bottom left) waring her winning jacket and the one adopted by CDT Design.

I set up a little competition with the fashion students at St Martin’s. My brief to them was to create a modern-day smock or jacket suitable for a design group. The image (above) was the result, and we all wore them for several years until one by one they disappeared, along with the Cow Gum, inks, scalpels and parallel motion boards. But my thinking was for entirely practical reasons, and, yes, I wanted the clothes to look good too, but they were led by function. But back to my view about designers’ dress codes. In ‘Objectified’, there was a distinct contrast between the various designers’ sartorial choices. It was interesting to see how their dress reflected their work.

A perfect example of this is designer Karim Rashid. As you can see from the picture above, it smacks of “I am a designer”, and the work to smacks of “I have been designed” and typical of Americans’ pushy hutzpah.

Contrast this with the Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa, whose dress sense is very low key and

Naoto Fukasawa another low key dresser.

Fukasawa's rice bowl. Sublime simplicity.

directly relates to the simplicity of his design for Muji, along with the modesty of most Japanese people – unless you happen to be under 18, where anything goes. I feel a little guilty at not talking more about the work of the product designers in the documentary, but most of it was very familiar to me, but not so much the designers themselves, so I viewed it through a different lens and it became far more interesting to look beyond their work. 

Anish Kappor and Ai Weiwei keep things neutral.

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, as a company, Carroll, Dempsey & Thirkell donated some of its profits to the arts: we sponsored the shows of Anish Kapoor Tate and a Cindy Sherman show at the Whitechapel. At the private viewings, we mixed with sponsors, artists, gallery owners, friends and curators, and you could divide these by their dress codes. At each of the private viewings, the curators were kitted out in Issey Miyake or Dolce & Gabbana. The artists were very unobtrusive. The gallery owners would be in soberly cut, well-tailored suits with a flash of colour in the sock department or a choice Georgina von Etzdorf tie or scarf loosely worn around their necks, just to show that they were a little edgier than their city broker friends. But things changed when Grayson Perry appeared on the scene.

Grayson Perry and an example of his ceramic work below.

Having been in the world of design since the early ’60s, I have seen and been through many fashion iterations. Looking back at photographs, most of these trends reflected the times, but, viewed now, they are highly embarrassing. I always find it amusing and a little sad when you see major, and not so major, rock stars and groups from the ’70s permanently stuck in a fashion time warp.

The Rolling Stones in a fashion time warp.

Elton John

Boy George

Adam Ant inspired the doyens of haute couture

The ever-changing David Bowie.

The Rolling Stones, with their spiky mullets and bandanas, along with their ageing frames squeezed into leather trousers and cowboy boots, resemble a geriatric coach party heading to a ’70s-themed event. Only David Bowie seemed to cleverly surf over that fashion trap by constantly evolving.

But fashion is just another industry driven by the big retailers, like Philip Green, who spews out affordable fashion items made in chicken-coup-style factories in the Far East to maximise profits, pay himself enormous sums and bank the rest in low-tax countries. And on the topic of the fashion industry, there can be no doubt that it is the place for the most excessive use of visual self-expression, especially in the lofty world of haute couture fashion. Surrounded by adoring customers and A-listers from all quarters, fashion designers presenting their new seasons of wares are celebrated with adulation and camera flashes. 

Douglas Fairbanks seems to be the source of both the pop and fashion world look.

John 'Look at me' Galliano

Two that stand out for me are John Galliano, with his swashbuckling Douglas Fairbanks look singling him out as ‘the designer’ (just in case), and Karl Lagerfeld, with his stiff shirt collars like a neck brace, white makeup, sunglasses and Michael Jackson black leather gloves, along with a ponytail.

Black-clad Karl Lagerfeld who was convinced that he was 'the only one'.

 And some of the women from the world of fashion Zandra Rhodes and Betty Jackson. The former wants to inhabit every colour in the rainbow and the latter sticks to black and white.

Rainbow Zandra Rhodes

Betty Jackson stays classic.

Alexander McQueen left his creations to speak for him.

The likes of Galliano and Largerfield are in direct contrast to Alexander McQueen, who mostly favoured a T-shirt and let his work be the visual event.  I have been around long enough to have seen fashions come around and go around several times over and looking ridiculous. These days I view extreme fashion shifts with gentle amusement.

Some more of my fashion observations can be found in the following links:

Send in the clowns

Dedicated followers of fashion

Jelly mould politics

RDInsights: In conversation

Listen to them all HERE

Greta Gerwig: Christmas cracker

Following on from her Oscar-nominated Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig has adapted and directed Louisa May Alcott’s classic American novel Little Women. 

The production is on an entirely different scale to Gerwig’s early films. This has a huge cast of characters, headed by Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep, backed up with hundreds of extras and a vast crew. But Gerwig has grasped it with a steady hand and delivered a faithful rendition, with a few minor dramatic changes, of this much-loved story based on the impossible, goody-goody, close-knit, loving family of four daughters (Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy) and their matriarchal, socially conscious mother, Marmee (Laura Dern). All kitted out in wonderful costumes by Jacqueline Durran. The family’s father is off involved with the civil war for 95% of the film. I’m sure you all know the story.

For the main protagonist, Jo March, Gerwig has turned again to her Lady Bird star Saoirse Ronan to play an almost identically argumentative main character: the feisty, emancipated, pushy, would-be writer Jo March, but transported back to the 19th century. Rather than running the tale in a conventional linear form, Gerwig effortlessly inserts flashbacks and forwards to great effect. It is sumptuously shot by Yorick le Saux on 35 mm in glorious Massachusetts through the seasons, all lovingly captured.

It reminded me of Orson Welles’ The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), also set in the 19th century, with its frantic tracking shots and overlapping dialogue – all used by Gerwig in this film.

At times Little Women, it’s like flicking through a Montgomery Ward & Co mail-order catalogue; at other times, it’s like looking at the most beautiful Victorian Christmas card.

It is a charming film, and its release date of 25th December will make it the Christmas movie.

Then & Now

An occasional series linking past design thinking with the present, without comment.

Past

1965

Present

2019

Japan jottings: A designer's paradise

I first visited Japan three years ago. I was entranced by everything about it. For a designer, it is an inspiration. So, when the opportunity arose again, there was only one answer: when can we go?

The delightful ANA flight attendants

I'm very lucky that I have a Japanese daughter-in-law, Chieko – my own guide and demystifier of all things Japanese. From the moment we boarded the ANA flight to Tokyo at Heathrow, Japan started. Welcoming us aboard the aircraft, the immaculately turned-out air hostesses, with hair tied back into tight buns, gentle smiles and hands clasped in front of them, bowed and say “Konnichiwa”. As if by magic, you are 40,000 feet up in the air, heading east, leaving the brashness of London behind and speeding towards the land of the rising sun.

I am breaking down my jottings under simple headings.

The people
Their beauty, politeness, grace and consideration for others are striking. They don't raise their voices; if they have a cold, they wear a mask; and at stations, passengers queue on marked platform lines, not the free-for-all that we have in the UK. Tipping in Japan is considered demeaning, so that's a little issue you don't have to fret over. In Japanese stores, you receive the best service I have ever experienced. You're not hounded, but the staff are there when you need them, always with utter politeness. Plus you never enter a house without first removing your shoes. In the UK and most other countries, no one seems to care about what is being brought into the house on their shoes, and people are happy to let their toddlers crawl around on their hands and knees. This devotion to cleanliness starts at school where pupils sweep and clean their classrooms at the end of the day. Try that in the UK and there would be instant litigation. So, very quickly, you are totting up the brownie points when comparing Japan with life in the UK.

The navy blue office outfit worn by thousands of women everyday.

What is also striking is that there is a strict dress code for corporate office workers: dark-coloured suits, always with a tie for the men. Women wear neat black close-fitting jackets and skirts, along with crisp white blouses and low-heeled black shoes.

 Japanese employees wear their uniforms with great pride.

And from railway workers to refuge collectors, there are specific uniforms – always worn with pride and neatly turned out. Many of the utility, delivery and food outlets favour American-style workwear brandishing patched logos. And the police look like US cops.

And it all starts at school with 'Ginza' school uniforms based on early naval and military dress.

Meanwhile, the schoolgirls wear tartan kilts, white button-down Oxford cotton shirts, knee-length socks and penny loafers. Others wear the more-traditional sailor-style tops. They can be seen everywhere chatting, laughing and stopping at the many colourful street market ice cream or sweet stalls.

Food & drink
This is one of the most important things in Japanese life: everyone takes it very seriously.

Food, conversation and togetherness are an essential part of Japanese life.

And in Hirokazu Kore-eda delightful film Our Little Sister food was a central theme.

The preparation and presentation are art forms in their own right. The table quickly fills with small bowls of various foods, a great deal of which is fish based and raw or marinated. And depending on the kind of establishment, you could be sitting on cushions on the floor or at an equally low table with a cut-out well below to put your legs. Now, I have to come clean here: I have been a vegetarian since the age of seven, and that includes most fish, so all that beautifully prepared and presented food was completely wasted on me. On both visits, I struggled, and unless you are a Buddhist monk, you won't find much vegetarian food around. Beer is the norm to accompany food, followed by sake. The Japanese office workers tend to endure long days and after work, they populate the many bars and restaurants to unwind, drinking and eating till late, often falling asleep on the metro home.

Architecture
What is immediately striking is the sheer density of the buildings in the city, spilling out into the endless suburbs. The land is very expensive; consequently, the living space is far less than we have in the UK. Apparently, the life of a building in Japan is around 20 to 30 years. Historic temples are the exception, but everything else is up for grabs on the planning front, and it all looks rather uncontrolled and chaotic.

If you can't build horizontally then go vertical. In Japan anything seems possible, even on a stamp size plot like this one in Tokyo, designed by Tsutomu Matsuno and Kumi Aizawa. 

Many clean lined, modernist pieces of architecture use cast concrete as the material of choice, as in this shop in Kyoto. But they often echo the traditional elements of older buildings, as the one below.

Above: one of the tea rooms at the  Daisen-In Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto. Timeless beauty and simplicity. 

A typical new build, and rather bland looking house in Kyoto.

Many international architects have cut their teeth on initially designing buildings for Japan because there is less hassle in getting innovative concepts through planning, with many modernist examples dotted all over Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, the three cities I visited while there. Once you travel into the suburbs, the roads become extremely narrow, with houses and flats rubbing shoulders amidst a tangle of overhead cables and train crossings. And there seem to be Coca-Cola vending machines on every street corner. You look around and you've been metamorphosed into a Studio Ghibli animated film as laughing school kids with backpacks and cyclists holding umbrellas pass by.

A typical suburban street in Osaka

Traditional Japanese architecture has always been a key inspiration for many of the most renowned international architects, both past and present. And when you visit the many temples and tea houses, you are struck by their utter simplicity: exquisitely crafted with a timeless look and feel, they are a wonder of construction and perfection.

Kengo Kuma's design for the Nezu Museum in Tokyo

The Japanese have also had their brutalist architectural moments, as here with this sinister looking building in Kyoto. Cast concrete is still the favoured material for many Japanese architects.

Key Japanese architects include the great Tadao Ando and Kengo Kuma. Kuma designed the Nezu Museum in Tokyo, and is a beautiful example of honouring the Japanese tradition in a contemporary manner.

Windows in traditional Japanese buildings are all about the view, as here at Daisen-In Zen Buddhist temple in Murasakino ,Kyoto.

Gardens
Most people have seen the great gardens of Kyoto. Monty Don had a wonderful BBC series recently. But in reality, they are breathtaking: exquisite examples of painstaking planning, work and constant maintenance to create perfection that looks totally natural.

Azaleas in bloom lead the way to the gardens at Nezu Museum in Kyoto.

Above just a tiny sampling of the Imperial Palace gardens in Kyoto.

My grandaughter Yoko at the Imperial Palace.

The placing of everything in a Japanese garden is about the balance of the elements in order to create a mini landscape of contemplation. What is a delight is how the heritage of classic Japanese garden design continues in every little scrap of land in a domestic setting.

No matter how small, Japanese gardens adhere to tradition.

Even shops.

My daughter in laws parent's garden in Osaka.

It is frowned upon if you don't maintain your garden within the accepted rules. And the Japanese are an obedient race and really do adhere to the rules. But there is no doubt that they love their gardens, and the cherry blossom season and the golden hues of the fall are national outings for thousands of Japanese people.

Fashion
This is a very interesting mix of things. On the one level, traditional clothes are still very evident, especially with women. But the influence of the Americans following their occupation from 1945 until 1952 was significant. Baseball, basketball and golf all became adopted by the Japanese, and all the classic workwear described earlier is a staple for factory and utility staff. Everyday wear for men is clearly derived from the Ivy League and American sportswear look, which continues to this day. But the wearing of kimonos is still an everyday sight.

Along with modern jazz, young Japanese men in the 1960s fell in love with the American style known as 'Ivy League'.

 The style in Japan continues to this day with a companies like Beams (the above jacket available at £158), Muji and Uniqlo still following the  America look.

What a great look on this older guy.

Me on a train observing a group of traditionally dressed Japanese women.

Some garages are too small to house the small cars.

Cars/transport
I'm no petrolhead, but I have always had an interest in cars. As living space is, by necessity, very small, so too are the cars. I was amazed by the number of small Japanese cars that I'd never seen in the West – some were very cute-looking, while some of the larger vehicles were unbelievably ugly.

Japanese cars can be extremely ugly...

... and some incredibly cute.

And the trucks are pretty special.

And outside of Holland, I have never seen so many bicycles. Disconcertingly, they are allowed to cycle on the pavement, so it's a little hazardous for pedestrians.

Bikes are everywhere, including on the pavement.

The transport system is fast, super clean, air-conditioned and very punctual.

Top: Railway cleaners bow to customers after finishing their task, and below station staff thank their passengers for using the service. Can you imagine that happening on London Underground? 

And in addition to their famous high-speed bullet trains, they have the monorail system whizzing around the place. And where else in the world would the railroad staff bow to you when you leave the station? In Japan they do, and it is a delight.

Television
From what very little I watched, the TV seemed pretty dire, with many garish game shows with the screen filled up with multi-coloured Japanese typography. The news is delivered by the usual male/female duo but without the phoney banter, and it tends to be rather formal. But I didn't watch enough to determine if there were any more-esoteric stations.

Graphics
This is where the Japanese score high. Airport and railway signage is minimal and beautifully clear.

Above: examples of air and platform signage, rail maps and street totems

And they have always been masters of the pictogram. Wherever possible, they slip in charmingly witty logos, which they have a particular passion for.

This is the logo for a major courier company. The Japanese have a liking for cute animals and these types of logos are everywhere.

Beautiful tradition repeat pattern designs are used on containers.

These little hanging sheets are called a Noren. They can be seen outside shops, restaurants and houses. I loved them so much, that on my last trip to Japan, I hand one made for my home.

It says 'Come in'.

A very nice minimal poster on a bus shelter.

Even the graffiti is minimal and orderly, in the trendy Daikanyama area, with this space Invader tiled addition. 

Print production is particularly good, and paper is something that they have special expertise in. And if you are looking for books on graphic design, then there is no better place than Tsutaya bookstore in Daikanyama in Tokyo – it is the most wonderful store, stocked with everything under the sun.

Below is a beautiful giveaway leaflet that I picked up in the Tokyo Midtown shopping mall. i

A beautifully understated piece of graphics promoting a range of craft based designers, showing their work at Tokyo Midtown.  

A photograph from a series called 'Artisans' by Takuo Itayama, who had a show on in Tokyo.

This exquisite hand carved and painted traditional mask demonstrates the innate skill of Japanese craftspeople.

Music
In the UK, most coffee shops and restaurants insist on pumping out head-thumping rock or rap, making it impossible to have a civilised conversation without shouting. In similar outlets in Japan, it's a diet of calm, laid-back modern jazz – it's everywhere. Since the mid-1950s, the Japanese have had a love affair with modern jazz, and it is the perfect backdrop.

J-Pop group Tokyo Girls' Style.

On the pop front, there is J-pop, consisting of groups of very young Barbie-like girls dancing and singing hyper-cute songs in pink outfits against multi-colour fantasy sets. There are also metal and rap groups, if that takes your fancy, along with the usual music acts from the West. And there are many top-notch classical musicians and film composers like the great Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Safety
They say that Japan's only crime problem is too many police and not enough criminals.

They have these little shop like police stations dotted around the city, with a gallery of wanted photos and missing people.

What a luxury. Despite a 127 million population, the crime rate is very low, and there is a collective awareness of people’s safety. In bars, coffee shops and restaurants, baskets are provided to place your bags in so that they don't make contact with the dirty floor. The basket is placed at the side of the table. In the UK, this act would trigger a ready-made takeaway for thieves. Not in Japan. People leave their iPhones and laptops on the table when going to the loo. If a bag or wallet is lost in the street, it is highly likely that it will be handed into the local police station. As I write this, there have been four fatal stabbings in London – a form of attack that has escalated, with over 100 cases since January. The number of recorded crimes in Japan continues to decrease to a level unseen in the post-war period. That isn't to say there isn’t a darker side to Japan – there is – but according to Japanese government statistics, the arrest and conviction rate is extremely high. Japan is clearly a male-dominated society, and even though there is supposed to be increasing equality, women still earn salaries 27% below their male counterparts. And there is a lot of sexual abuse perpetrated on women, especially on crowded trains, so much so that there are now female-only carriages. So not all is wine and roses. But there is no doubt that Japan is one of the safest countries to visit, so they must be doing something right.

The future
What strikes you about Japan is, well, it's so Japanese. They have the ability to absorb things from other cultures without being overwhelmed and continue to maintain their unique character and culture. I can recall as a teenager that the view of the Japanese was that they were a nation of plagiarists. Not so. The Japanese have an uncanny ability to spot a product with flaws and improve it. Motorcycles are a classic example. During the ’40s and ’50s, Britain was a world leader in the manufacture of motorcycles. In the 1960s, the Japanese looked at our bikes and thought: a kick-start, that's crazy! They added a key turning system to solve that little issue. The idea was poo-pooed by the British – a big mistake. Very quickly, a range of motorcycles emanated from Japan, well made, reliable and cheaper, so our motorcycle industry was decimated. The Japanese went on to replicate this in improvements to cameras, electronics, trains and cars and have exceeded in innovation in all those areas and many new ones. But there is one area that may have a profound effect on the future of Japanese culture. It is an ageing population, and the birth rate has dramatically dropped. This means that there will be issues in many employment areas in the near future. Currently, only 1.99% of the population are foreigners. It will be necessary to attract far more from outside to settle in Japan. This will undoubtedly bring customs and cultures that could disrupt Japan's unique order of things. And much of what I have described in this post that makes Japan so unique and delightful could fade. I sincerely hope not.

We finally speed off back to Tokyo airport on the immaculately clean, air conditioned and punctual monorail. 

The phrase ' You could eat off the floor' comes to mind.

And finally, not to end on a bum note...
If you have never had the TOTO loo experience, you are in for a treat.

An array of possibilities for your visit to the smallest room.

Japanese loo seats are heated, and when you have finished your business, there are a series of sprays to clean your bottom, followed by a warm air dryer. It is absolute bliss, and with a book to read, you could camp out all day away from the heat and bustle.

And then suddenly, I'm back it London, in the mist of rush hour on a hot, overcrowded tube. The magic is over - until the next time, Sayōnara.

 

Living the brand

You pay 5p per supermarket bag to freely advertise for the store.

 

I have never had an obsession with branded fashion items. By that I mean wanting to be overt about it.

A decade or so back the VW badges were constantly being stolen from cars.

 

I do have a loyalty to Volkswagen, having driven their cars for so many years. Despite their emissions tampering, I still forgive them. But then that's cars – they are always badged and do need identifying, so I can't get around the one. But I always remove any window stickers that may have been added.

 

 

 

Above some major free advertising.

 

Trainers are a whole story in themselves.

 

But when it comes to fashion, that is where it stops for me. I have never understood the mentality of people wanting to be festooned with logos all over their clothing. These days, the obsession starts young

with peer pressure at school. It's the must-have latest baseball cap, t-shirt, trainers, etc., all heavily branded. And if not fake, they are all outrageously expensive – often paid for by parents who can't really afford the price tags.

The Fred Perry tennis shirt, an early example of fashion branding from 1952.

 

 

The other was of course Levis jeans. 

 

When I was a teenager back in the 1950s, the only outwardly branded fashion item I can recall is the Fred Perry shirt, and that was pretty discreet. But subtlety has gone out the window these days – people have become moving advertisements.

 

It has been reported that David Beckham can receive up to  £13million in one year for brand advertising.

 

Any other form of advertising for a brand has to be paid for, be it print, online or a TV commercial. I think it is about time that people wised up to this exploitation of their body space. We, of course, see sports personalities and film stars advertising brands, but they not only get paid enormous sums of money but are also given free products to go with it.

 

It would be interesting to know if there has been any research carried out to gauge the influence and sales increases based on people wearing overt brands.

 

In my opinion, major brands should do one of two things regarding their branded products:

 

1. Overtly branded items should be discounted by 20%.

2. Non-branded (or minimal) versions should be sold at full price.

 

In that way, people would have a choice and would be indirectly paid to advertise products.

 

You are not only advertising your chosen team but their sponsors. How crazy it that?

 

The worse examples of free advertising are football strips. It's not just the team advertised but their sponsors too – that is real cheek!

 

Apparently, the Daunt Books bag is very popular with fashion models.

 

 

And, sneakily, high-street shops and supermarkets always have their names emblazoned on their bags and charge you for the pleasure.

 

I have been known to wear a t-shirt for a cause or a piece of non-commercial design that I like, but that is where it stops for me.