By Doug Clouse.
With radiant talent, determined industry, and a cheerful disposition, designer Ray Komai built an unusual career. After forced removal to Manzanar, the World War II incarceration camp for Japanese Americans, the Los Angeles native designed notable furniture, textiles, and magazines in New York City in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. He left New York to design exhibitions and publications for the United States Information Service, promoting the country that had once put him behind barbed wire.
Komai left behind beautiful work that provides insight into the relationship between design and nationalism. This beautifully designed book is richly filled with full-color reproductions of Ray Komai's work and rarely seen photographs of his life. Paper: 188 pp.
