Richard Kenvin
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2014, English
Nonfiction, Product/Industrial Design
10 x 11 inches, paperback, 176 pages, 150 color illustrations
ISBN: 9780262027601
Suggested Retail Price: $20.97

From the Publisher. In his text, Richard Kenvin looks at the craft and design of surfboards from a historical and cultural perspective. He views board design as an exemplary model of mingei, or art of the people, and the craft philosophy of Soetsu Yanagi. Yanagi believed that a design’s true beauty and purpose are revealed when it is put to its intended use. In its purest form, the craft of board building, along with the act of surfing itself, exemplifies mingei. Surf Craft pays particular attention to Bob Simmons’s boards, which are striking examples of this kind of functional design, mirroring the work of postwar modern California designers.

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