Last year, FRAGILE BOOKS published two books which contain the personal collections of two artists who also make creations. Art director Nobuhiro Yamaguchi was in charge of the beautiful bookbinding of both books.

“The Collection of Useless Spoons” is a book of spoons, knives, and forks, some of which are centuries old, from the personal collection of Yuichi Takemata, a metalsmith who works on his own cutlery and whose studio is based in Kanazawa, Ishikawa. A selection of these pieces was inherited from Hayao Tatsuzawa, a crafts researcher whose book “The Cosmos of Cutlery” (Rutles, 2002) inspired Takemata. Interestingly enough, apparently it was Kazumi Sakata, the owner of the antiques shop Sakata in Mejiro, Tokyo, who was the one who supplied the cutlery to Tatsuzawa. Despite the passing of both Tatsuzawa and Sakata, it is moving to see how the sensibility that finds beauty in these old tools is passed down to the next generation.

“egg” is a diverse collection of 160 egg-shaped items collected over many years by Keichi Sumi, an artist who finds all sorts of items from all ages and transforms them into beautiful art pieces. Wood, metal, plastic, paper—these “fake” eggs are made of all sorts of materials, but Sumi always strips these items of their coatings or surface prints. Looking at these naked items, stripped of their outer layer, various thoughts come to mind. Even the large, round and unique spine of the book seems like an eggshell; the publisher’s name “fragile” seems awfully fitting. I can’t help but feel a sense of a slightly pointed but rounded humor.

“The Collection of Useless Spoons” Yuichi Takemata
“egg” keiichi sumi

https://www.fragile-books.com/