Pattern designer
Sawada Sōzan
A Japanese pattern designer whose 1924 book of designs still looks strikingly modern.
On Picturepops™ cards · 4
The life
1881–1963
Sawada Sōzan, born Sawada Seiichirō, was a Japanese designer of patterns whose books of designs appeared from the 1910s, among them a book on pottery in 1918. In 1924 the art publisher Unsōdō printed his Sōzan zuanshū, a book of his designs for textiles and decoration: sunflowers, moths, hares and waves in flat, bold colour. Little more about his life has been published. Our cards, Moth in a Diamond, Maple Leaves on Black, Sunflower and White Hare Over Waves, all come from that book.