Japanese Retro

Japanese Retro compiles the visual vocabulary of a particular graphic moment — the way Japanese popular culture has been filtered through contemporary illustration — and lays it out with the density of a field guide. Every element is chosen: cats in their various roles (maneki-neko, samurai, masked, sunglassed), a daruma with its single painted eye, a ramen bowl, a mecha figure, sushi, a Great Wave reference folded into the broth. Japanese text at the base: 日本のレトロ.

The palette is warm against the black ground — terracotta, cream, vermilion, a touch of aqua. The result is something with real visual energy that doesn't become loud. Black takes the brightness out of the colours just enough to make the piece work in a considered space.

On a wall, it does what good graphic prints do: it reads as a composition from across the room, and then invites you closer. The piece that prompts people to start listing what they can and can't identify, which is a reliable indicator of something worth having up.

Archival-quality print on paper. Selected in a single format — the scale we felt best suited the composition. Supplied unframed.

• Art print on archival-quality paper
• Selected in a single format — the scale we felt best suited the composition
• Supplied unframed
• Ready for standard frames

Archival-quality print on paper. Supplied unframed.