JET Alum Artist Beat: Joshua Powell, Book Designer and Illustrator

The latest installment in my JET Alum Artist Beat interview series over at JETWit.com features Joshua Powell, a Seattle-based book designer and illustrator whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know over the years. Josh and I collaborated on a number of projects while working with Seattle publisher Chin Music Press, a indie dedicated to artfully revitalizing paper-and-ink books through quality printing and content-honoring design. Like me, after graduating from college he lived in Japan to participate in the JET Program, and that experience continues to shape his career.

Joshua's original illustrations for a timeline of Chef Shiro Kashiba's life, from "Shiro: Wit, Wisdom and Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer" (Chin Music Press). Image courtesy of Joshua Powell.

Especially inspiring about Josh's design philosophy is that it is based on an idea that he calls "slow books" (like "slow food" or "slow travel"), or as he describes:

"Trying to retain the enjoyment of long-form reading, and of experiencing a sort of atmosphere and extended connection with the text and design. An experience that is drawn out and prolonged over time as well as something that comes from a physical object that you would want to keep and hold onto, returning to it months or years later."

Out of all of the books that Josh has designed, Shiro: Wit, Wisdom and Recipes from a Sushi Pioneer remains my favorite, and that's not just because I'm a huge Japanophile/snobby sushi lover/avid nonfiction reader. It is a prime example of a "slow book" that holistically tells the life story of Shiro Kashiba, the man who is thought to have been the first to bring traditional sushi to the Pacific Northwest.  If you have yet to see it in person, head to the food section of your local bookstore and check it out-- I guarantee that it is not like every other cookie-cutter cookbook-memoir that they sell at Williams-Sonoma. It is worth buying for the visuals alone: 1960s Seattle tourist ephemera, Josh's original illustrations, and priceless photos of Shiro hiking in the mountains outside of Tokyo with Jiro Ono (yes, the Jiro Ono of Jiro Dreams of Sushi fame).