The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design: Material Culture and Social Agency - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1350427829 ISBN 13: 9781350427822

Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts (UK), 2025

Synopsis

Focusing on the late 20th century onward, this book brings to light the ways in which design as a material form has underscored cultural, social and economic changes across Asia.

The Dynamics of Modern Asian Design provides a deeper and more enhanced understanding of material culture in Asia through analysis of examples of ceramics, electronic items, fashion, furniture, interior design, architecture and ornaments from across countries such as China, Hong Kong, India, Japan and South Korea. Authors explore the production of objects as agents in modern material life, moving beyond their roles as commodities and addressing their values in a range of contexts and subjectivities.

Early chapters explore how ceramics and found objects are given innovative forms and meanings in their reincarnation, and how the reinvention of material is critical when design is produced and valued. Authors look at the intricate correlation between materials, design practice and social change, highlighting issues of cultural authenticity and tensions between local and global contexts. They then interrogate the significance of visual appearance in material representations of modern women and religious artefacts, exploring gender and religious representation through the analysis of magazines, statues and objects of adornment. The final section includes analysis of concrete, urban design and electrical appliances, specific to particular cultural and social contexts across modern and contemporary Asian cultures.

About this title

About the Authors

Sandy Ng is Assistant Professor of Culture & Theory in the School of Design of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is the author of Portrayals of Women in Early Twentieth-Century China: Redefining Female Identity through Modern Design and Lifestyle (2024). She is currently developing new ideas that explore craftsmanship, female identity, and creativity. She is also working on two research projects that examine the assimilation of poetic metaphors in product design and designing for women’s mental health.

Megha Rajguru is Principal Lecturer in History of Art and Design at the University of Brighton, UK, where she is also Co-Director of the Centre of Design History. Her research is in South Asian design history, material and visual culture. She is co-editor of Design and Modernity in Asia (Bloomsbury, 2022) and has published articles in the Journal of Design History, Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, Journal of Museum Ethnography and the Journal of Visual Arts Practice. She has also acted as Trustee and Teaching and Learning Officer at the Design History Society, UK.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts (UK)
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350427829
• ISBN 13: 9781350427822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 232
• Editor: Megha Rajguru, Sandy Ng