Articles

The “irregular beauty” of things in Japan and Korea: “natural” and “emotional” package design

Vostok/Oriens '2017, №4

DOI: 10.7868/S0869190817040033

 
The paper focuses on the traditional “irregular beauty”, which we can see in Korea as well as in Japan. The aim of this study is to define how the “irregular beauty” influences on contemporary design of packages. Studying the “irregular beauty” of Korea and Japan reveals that in Japan it is based on a sad feeling of changing world mujokan, whereas in Korea it is associated with the “unfulfilled desire” han. Concerning Japanese “irregular beauty”, I use the word “natural”, i.e. “reflecting the change of seasons”. In the Korean case, I use the word “emotional”, i.e. “that is in the field of qi”. The difference between Japanese and Korean culture may be traced in colouring. The Korean colouring is based on the Five Elements or the Wu Xing, but the Japanese colouring is based on reflecting of the change of seasons. The traditional Japanese aesthetics of mujokan plays an important role in contemporary designs. The influence of han on South Korean design is not so obvious. South Korean case shows that Korean culture successfully develops its own traditions by means of design.

Keywords: Korean aesthetics, Japanese aesthetics, design of Korea, design of Japan, wabi-sabi, han, color in culture

Pages: С. 24–37