About
Founded in 2007, Spoon & Tamago is an international blog that is based out of New York City and Tokyo Japan. It is written by artist and writer Johnny Strategy. Drawing from an extensive multicultural database and resources, Spoon & Tamago attempts to comprehensively cover all aspects of Japanese design from fine art and architecture to product and graphic design.
So, what’s this all about?
What we’re trying to do is tell a story. That story is, what’s going on in the Japanese art & design industry and where is it headed. What we’re not trying to do is find recycled eye candy or re-post press releases. With that in mind, here are some of the things we think about when writing.
- Significance – who is doing it, why are they doing it, and why does it matter? What role does it play within its larger design discipline?
- Relevance – What is the context of the topic? Does it have a history or a future? Is the topic current? If not, why write about it now?
- Unique Content – Has this topic received exposure on other sites? If so, what kind of value can we add to the topic?
Kind Words and Acknowledgments
Named as one of “The Great 88: Today’s Most Inspiring People, Products and Projects”
Dwell Asia, August 2012
“Your commentary and interpretation is what is valuable to me. It’s valuable to the design community.” (translated)
Keiji Ashizawa, Architect
“I really admire your blog, it is quite wonderful! I feel really honored to have my work there.”
Miya Ando, Artist
“Spoon and Tamago just keeps getting better and better. One of my fav beautiful blogs for all things Japanese”
Craig Mod, Writer/Designer/Publisher
“[a] terrific New York/Tokyo art blog”
Khoi Vinh, Co-founder of Mixel.cc, former design director at NYTimes.com
Contributors
JOHNNY | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
@johnny_strategy
Johnny was born in Brooklyn but moved to Tokyo a year later. He spent the first 18 years of his life growing up in Tokyo. He returned, for the first time, to the United States to attend college where he earned his bachelor’s degree in Art Education and his BFA in Art and Visual Technology. He also completed intensive studies in art history. He is currently based in Brooklyn/Tokyo.
- The Japan Times (2013)
- The Inside Source (2011)
- NOM&ADA (2011)
- Davison Creators (2009
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TOMOMI | 主婦、時々職人
@ch0morin
In 2010 Tomomi launched the Spoon & Tamago clothing line for kids. She’s also co-founder of the Spoon x Chogre line of clothing, a collaboration with graphic designer Nobuko Hori.
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ANGELA SALISBUA | CONTRIBUTOR
@salisbua
Originally from Minneapolis, Angela is now a Tokyo-based writer and designer. Her craft and culture blog Saké Puppets spins tales of cafe lattes, embroidery works, and her occasional misadventures around the city. She knows her way around a purikura machine and is currently writing a book about modern handcrafts in Japan.
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RACHEL CARVOSSO | CONTRIBUTOR
Rachel Carvosso studied Fine Art in Oxford. Relocating to Japan she now teaches, writes, curates, enjoys chats over a cup of tea and exploring the Art and Design shows of Tokyo. As an enfp she finds many things intensely fascinating including BioArt (and Science in general), Entrepreneurship, NGO projects, aromatherapy massage and anti trafficking campaigns. She is currently developing writing projects and researching the impact of Arts in Fukushima/Tohoku post 3/11 Japan.
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JUSTINE | CONTRIBUTOR
@justinevichard
From Paris, Justine landed in Tokyo for deep urban exploration. By day she is trying to change the world, designing sustainable strategies. By night, with her red bike, she goes all across the city in search of new places, creators, events and installations. Her interests range from graphic design to fashion with a great interest for art installations using crossed media… and humor! When she is not in track for new smart ideas, she loves reading in amazing Tokyo parks and climbing green mountains.
Justine blogs in french at Riz en vrac!
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MASAKO | GLOBAL RELATIONS
Masako grew up in japan but is now based in NY and works in the art field. All of our studio visits happen because of her excellent networking skills.
Her interest varies amongst contemporary art/design/architecture etc. with a weakness for good site specific installations. She also is dead serious about food & sake, and can be spotted at good house music events all over NY.
She occasionally writes about food on the blog cookpadding.-
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What’s In A Name?
The origins of Spoon & Tamago can be traced back to an online personality test taken in the early 2000s that likened Johnny and his future wife Tomomi to an egg (tamago) and a spoon, respectively. Liking the association (think egg and spoon race), the names were adopted and Spoon & Tamago was born as the couple’s online diary. Over the years the site played many roles including artist portfolio, wedding blog and then baby blog.
In 2007, Johnny re-launched Spoon & Tamago as a design blog – a place to catalog all the cool and interesting things he was finding online. But realizing that his voice belonged in the arena of Japan, he later shifted gears and began writing specifically about Japanese design.
the original header banner, which ran from 2007 to 2011. Figurines designed by Tokyo-based Groovisions became manifestations of the name, Spoon and Tamago
