Japanese Emblems and Designs

Renowned for its superb invention, ingenuity, and sense of pattern, Japanese design has long been admired in the West. One specific kind of ornamentation, known as mon, is especially recognized for its unusually rhythmic and engrossing patterns. Originally designed to serve as family emblems or crests, mon have also been used in Japan as trademarks and for decorating such objects as kimonos and lacquered furniture.

This volume presents 800 of these attractive, copyright-free designs, ready for use or adaptation by today's commercial artists, craftspeople, and designers. Combining stylized natural and geometric forms to produce striking images, mon lend themselves to a wide range of applications: textile and wallpaper design, floor coverings, jewelry, mosaics, and much more. A special feature of this book is the inclusion of a number of designs by the great artist Hokusai, selected from an extremely rare edition originally published in 1824. In addition, the collection contains figures based on written characters, geometrical pattern construction, kimonos, and other motifs.

Jack Hillier, a well-known author and authority on Japanese art, has provided an informative and enlightening introduction to this exciting and useful design form.