Edited with text by Kenya Hara. Photographs by Yoshihiko Ueda, Taiki Fukao.
From the celebrated MUJI designer and bestselling author of 100 Whites and Designing Japan, a compact and beautifully designed guide to the art of cleaning
Cleanliness is a core value of societies around the globe. With beautiful photography and short, poetical observations, acclaimed author and designer Kenya Hara explores and illustrates the concept of cleaning in all of its aspects: sweeping, dusting, blowing, beating, washing, wiping, smoothing, raking, grooming, purifying, scrubbing, scraping, erasing, scooping, removing and clearing. From the sorting process a child applies to its toys and the meticulous attention a clockmaker pays to their creations to the impressive feat that is deep-cleaning a ship, each process is treated with the same gentle fascination. The portable book format invites readers to take this publication into the world as they look at these everyday processes with fresh eyes. Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer, author, curator, professor at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo and art director for MUJI. He has been awarded many prizes, including the Japanese Cultural Design Award. Hara is the author of White, 100 Whites, Designing Design and Designing Japan.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
Creative Review
Eliza Williams
Some of the scenes featured are epic—the cleaning of a 150m-long ship, for example, or the Ominugui ceremony (the cleaning of the Great Buddha) at Japan’s Todaiji Temple. But others are everyday, such as the peeling of stickers off a road sign, or the dusting of the lights in a home.
Financial Times: How To Spend It
Edwin Heathcote
It is certainly the most overlooked activity in architecture and design, but also the most universal.
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Featured spreads are from Cleaning, the newest book from influential MUJI designer Kenya Hara. Weighing in at 504 pages, this pocket-sized paperback is a pleasingly thorough guide to the art of cleaning—featuring sections on sweeping, dusting, blowing, beating, washing, wiping, smoothing, raking, grooming, purifying, scrubbing, scraping, erasing, scooping, removing and clearing. Hara writes: “We call environments that people have created in response to nature ‘man-made.’ That which is man-made should be comfortable, but when materials that encroach upon or erode nature, like plastic and concrete, become widespread, people begin to yearn for nature. And yet, when nature is left to its own devices, dust and fallen leaves pile up, and plants thrive wildly. As a result, historically, human beings have lived by accepting nature to a certain extent and also keeping it moderately in check. And so, in creating a residence or a garden, it’s uncouth and tasteless to allow the man-made to predominate. We must allow nature a moderate reign, neither over-sweeping the fallen leaves nor over-pruning the greenery. Just as at the water’s edge, where the breaking waves cleanse the sandy beach, the ultimate secret of cleaning may be found where human agency and nature struggle against one another, in our pursuit of ‘moderate comfort.’ In 2019, we went around the world photographing scenes in which people were pictured cleaning. This was before COVID-19 swept the globe. We had been wondering if the very essence of human beings lies dormant in the everyday and ordinary work of cleaning, which transcends culture and civilization. When the entire world stopped, these photos and videos made us miss our ordinary routines. No matter how technology advances in the future, people are living things, embracing a rhythm of life that perpetually resonates in the depth of the body. We can move forward heeding this natural internal rhythm.” continue to blog
Featured spreads are from Cleaning, the newest book from influential MUJI designer Kenya Hara. Weighing in at 504 pages, this pocket-sized paperback is a pleasingly thorough guide to the art of cleaning—featuring sections on sweeping, dusting, blowing, beating, washing, wiping, smoothing, raking, grooming, purifying, scrubbing, scraping, erasing, scooping, removing and clearing. Hara writes: “We call environments that people have created in response to nature ‘man-made.’ That which is man-made should be comfortable, but when materials that encroach upon or erode nature, like plastic and concrete, become widespread, people begin to yearn for nature. And yet, when nature is left to its own devices, dust and fallen leaves pile up, and plants thrive wildly. As a result, historically, human beings have lived by accepting nature to a certain extent and also keeping it moderately in check. And so, in creating a residence or a garden, it’s uncouth and tasteless to allow the man-made to predominate. We must allow nature a moderate reign, neither over-sweeping the fallen leaves nor over-pruning the greenery. Just as at the water’s edge, where the breaking waves cleanse the sandy beach, the ultimate secret of cleaning may be found where human agency and nature struggle against one another, in our pursuit of ‘moderate comfort.’ In 2019, we went around the world photographing scenes in which people were pictured cleaning. This was before COVID-19 swept the globe. We had been wondering if the very essence of human beings lies dormant in the everyday and ordinary work of cleaning, which transcends culture and civilization. When the entire world stopped, these photos and videos made us miss our ordinary routines. No matter how technology advances in the future, people are living things, embracing a rhythm of life that perpetually resonates in the depth of the body. We can move forward heeding this natural internal rhythm.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 4.75 x 6.25 in. / 504 pgs / 374 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $35.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $50.5 ISBN: 9783037787328 PUBLISHER: Lars Müller Publishers AVAILABLE: 10/3/2023 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA LA
Published by Lars Müller Publishers. Edited with text by Kenya Hara. Photographs by Yoshihiko Ueda, Taiki Fukao.
From the celebrated MUJI designer and bestselling author of 100 Whites and Designing Japan, a compact and beautifully designed guide to the art of cleaning
Cleanliness is a core value of societies around the globe. With beautiful photography and short, poetical observations, acclaimed author and designer Kenya Hara explores and illustrates the concept of cleaning in all of its aspects: sweeping, dusting, blowing, beating, washing, wiping, smoothing, raking, grooming, purifying, scrubbing, scraping, erasing, scooping, removing and clearing.
From the sorting process a child applies to its toys and the meticulous attention a clockmaker pays to their creations to the impressive feat that is deep-cleaning a ship, each process is treated with the same gentle fascination. The portable book format invites readers to take this publication into the world as they look at these everyday processes with fresh eyes.
Kenya Hara (born 1958) is a Japanese graphic designer, author, curator, professor at the Musashino Art University in Tokyo and art director for MUJI. He has been awarded many prizes, including the Japanese Cultural Design Award. Hara is the author of White, 100 Whites, Designing Design and Designing Japan.
