Igarashi Alphabets: From Graphics to Sculptures (1987)

Igarashi Alphabets: From Graphics to Sculptures (1987)
Takenobu Igarashi
Dustjacket over casebound H255 x W260 mm, 152 pages. Acquired from Scarthin Books, 7 June 2021.
Photos: Books On Books Collection.

Thirty-three years after this rare volume’s appearance, some renewed interest in Igarishi’s design and artistry has arisen. The Thames & Hudson volume noted below was widely noted but reviewed in depth in only a few places (see below).

In noting in their 1995 facsimile of Johann David Steingruber’s Architectonisches Alphabeth that three-dimensional alphabet design inevitably reflects its typographic and architectural milieu, Joseph Kiermeier-Debre and Fritz Franz Vogel single out Igarishi’s work in aluminum, concrete, wood and plastic as a perfect 20th century example. Unlike that of his European predecessors, Igarashi’s milieu has been both Eastern and Western. It shows not only in his design, surfaces and choice of material but also in the global attention paid to his work. The briefest search online yields sources in Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Singapore and many others besides those expected in the US and Japan.

Along with the works of Katsumi Komagata, Yasushi Cho and Zhang Xiaodong, Igarashi’s volume adds some Eastern balance to the Western bias in the Books On Books Collection.

Further Reading

“Abecedaries I (in progress)“. 31 March 2020. Books On Books Collection.

“Johann David Steingruber“. 23 April 2021. Books On Books Collection.

“Katsumi Komagata“. 22 March 2020. Books On Books Collection.

“Yasushi Cho“. 10 May 2021.

“Zhang Xiaodong“. 1 December 2019. Books On Books Collection.

“Step inside the three-dimensional letters of cult graphic designer Takenobu Igarashi“. Spinach. 10 October 2020. Accessed 10 June 2021.

Black, Holly. 15 November 2020. “Takenobu Igarashi Conceives Type in New Dimensions“. Elephant.

Igarashi, Takenobu, Sakura Nomiyama, and Haruki Mori. 2020. Takenobu Igarashi A – Z. Farnborough: Thames &and Hudson.

Ong, Jyni. 2 October 2018. “Volume presents a long-overdue monograph on Japanese type master Takenobu Igarashi“. It’s Nice That.

Riechers, Angela. 14 October 2020. “Takenobu Igarashi Pushed the Parameters of Typography with His Hand-drawn 3D Letterforms“. AIGA Eye on Design. Accessed 6 June 2021.