THE FAMILY / Takenobu Igarashi

 

Takenobu Igarashi attained international acclaim as a graphic designer in the mid-1970s through his axonometric alphabets. In 1979, GRAPHIS, a leading Swiss design magazine introduced and featured his work. He strived to introduce outstanding works of international designers by planning, gathering material, editing, and doing the layout and design all by himself for international publications. During this time, he also designed visual identity programs for domestic as well as international clients.
For the Museum of Modern Art, New York, he produced a series of graphic and product design goods. In the late 80s he supported Japanese regional industries by designing products employing their traditional craftsmanship.

In 1994, he ended his 25 years of design activity and moved to Los Angeles to become a sculptor. After working with marble, he discovered terracotta and wood as his material. He returned to Japan in June 2004. In recent years, he has been producing various sculptures and reliefs for public spaces all over Japan and has resumed his design activity from another view point as an artist.

Representative works are in the permanent collection of over 30 museums worldwide including MoMA. Books on his work have been published in Japan, China, Korea, Germany and Switzerland. He has been awarded the Commendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Katsumi Masaru Award, the Mainichi Design Award, the IF Design Award and the Good Design Award for his achievements and activities in the field of graphic and product design.

An emeritus professor of Tama Art University since April 2015.