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ZAKKA & EDUCATED COMMUNITY |
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Educated Community
is a English/Japanese bilingual magazine
focusing on what's happening in the
street scenes of New York City and Tokyo.
Launched in 1999, EC devotes its pages
to covering creative and forward-thinking
personalities, places, and things that
impact and inspire the unique urban
cultures in these two cities and beyond.
ZAKKA has
contributed to the publication since
issue three, discussing various aspects
of design and culture.
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BACK
ISSUES FROM EDUCATED COMMUNITY :: EC
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Issue
7 T-Shirt As a Medium
Super design team Club
King, based in Japan, recently
collaborated with artists.
Photographers, and musicians
for their latest project:
the "T-Shirt as a Medium."
The products are exhibited/for
sale in Club King's free zine,
Dictionary. |
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Issue
6 Motion Graphic
As the new generation of
graphic cesigners gets more
innovative, aggressive and creative
with their work, they've started
to branch out into making videos.
Venues to view these videos
have existed in counterculture
events like Rezfest and the
One Dot Zero Motion Graphics
Festival, or in products such
as Gasbook and flips (a design
package including a CD-Rom,
T-shirts and DVDs). Now you
can check them out right down
on Grand Street, at Zakka. |
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Issue
5 Zakka Vs.The Regular
Book Shop
We at Zakka are trying
to redefine the definition
of a bookstore. We're trying
to break the tradition and
create a whole different environment.
Of course we carry books,
but we specialize in hard
to find art books, toys, gadgets,
and we also feature many artist's
works. This "outside the box"
thinking is also becoming
very popular to our peers
and in the art world in general.
Futura, Kaws, and Michael
Lau are good examples. This
holds especially true in street
culture. On the streets, you
have more freedom to explore
new ideas. It's now becoming
difficult to categorize us
and artists like we mentioned
above. Takeshi Murakami and
Phillipe Starck are also good
examples.For instance, Starck
is designing products for
convenience store delis now.
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This is far from the 5 star
hotel clients he is used to
having but it allows him to
think in a whole different
mind frame. The exposures
many of these artists and
creators are gaining have
caught the eyes of many large
corporations as well. Companies
will sponsor or commission
artists to make and create
more things. This can be dangerous
as large companies are generally
concerned with the bottom
line dollars and cents and
this can affect the way artists
create in their own spirit.
The direction and motivation
become clouded. It's vital
that the artists have complete
creative control when dealing
with large corporations. What
we want to ultimately achieve
here at a Zakka is a showcase
space for artists to explore
different dimensions of their
creativity...without any limits.
We support the artists and
creators that think outside
of the box, and although we'll
always be categorized as a
"book shop," we will strive
to be "the shop and space
for creators." |
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Issue
4
Recently, I have formed an
interest in design with an
industrial flavor; everything
from carpentry lap-joining
techniques to assembly line
robots. True "industrial"
design-for example, design
that is specifically
geared
toward professionals
and
specialist, asopposed to the
common person. Why?
I love the attention paid
to technical details in the
design of these things. The
aesthetic is one of functionality,
not meaningless decoration.
Like the early computer our
parents had when we were kids--real
no-nonsense design. Lamentably,
recent designs in Japan seem
childishly user-friendly,
although they're made for
adults. Even simple items
are designed to look cute
and easy-to-operate. But I
hope that future designs will
be more no-nonsense. |
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EDUCATED
COMMUNITY
NEW YORK, USA TOKYO,
JAPAN
158 Grand Street, #203
NEW YORK, NY 10013
Phone & Fax: 212.941.6263
newyork@ecnyc.org |
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All
rights reserved by zakkacorp.com © 2002-2005
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