Bridge Assignment #3: Scavenger Hunt/ Persons, Places and Things.
Sharaku Sushi
At this location I noticed how organic the Japanese interior design was, using natural products like wood an bamboo for main structures. The plating and cutlery designed with many pigments in large organic shapes unlike the plain white porcelain in many restaurants. This exemplifies the wabi-sabi philosophy of impermanence without perfection.
152 Elizabeth street
Upon arriving at this location I had realized I made a mistake and misread the website as the building was still under construction in preliminary phases. However what I did gain from this site was the importance of location and style of building as located in Nolita/Soho district there is a lot of ambiguous and old style buildings around from the industrial revolution. In contrast this building will be designed with Japanese minimalism creating great disparity among the structures viewable on the street but also pointing the district in a new direction for the future of NYC.
Little Tokyo
Little is a very key word at this location on my scavenger hunt. On the block of Stuyvesant and 9th street spanned only one street of Japanese restaurants, bars and grocery stores. However small they were very authentic in nature and even designed on the exterior to match that of their traditional design unlike modern Japanese restaurants. Again the relevance of wood and simple textures like white paint and greenery were prevalent in the first appearance of most shops along this street.
MoMa Japanese Constellations
This exhibit was a beautiful collection of architectural models by Japanese architects. Some of the structures had already been built recently and others were still propositions for development. Being someone who was very close to going into an architecture major I was inspired by the many designs an long the simple creativity to many problems which the Japanese architects had solutions to.
Beautiful Blades
Unfortunately the research went wrong for this location as well, Google had listed the hours of operation incorrectly on their site which when I arrived at the location I was 30 min late after closing. However I did get a sneak peak inside the windows of the shop at the hundreds of swords of all styles which were displayed, unfortunately not being able to tell what kinds they were but very intriguing to the eye nonetheless.
Haru Sushi
The final stop was a modern Japanese restaurant in comparison to a more traditional style restaurant earlier in the day. I was able to view the sushi chefs making the food thus analyzing their techniques and styles of food creation and plating was very interesting and inspiring. Presentation is very important to them to crate harmony on the plate but not perfection, there was a balance in all of the items ordered when they were presented on the table as well as a clean plate or sauce which was intentionally designed over the rolls.
Conclusion:
In synthesis I think I can take some valuable knowledge from these experiences to support the claims and evidence that I am making in my final paper. Showing how the samurai sword attains the necessary principles of Zen design philosophy is no easy task but these locations have shown me that I am on the right track through the connection that I have made between the sword and the design principles. It was also enlightening to analyze how these design principles can be integrated into other types of design other than sword making, like interior design, architecture and culinary presentation, becoming an essential philosophy throughout all Japanese design fields.
