Akio Makigawa (new copy)

[Melbourne, Victoria] : Carlier Makigawa, 2013. Quarto, embossed strawboard with cloth spine, pp. 565, extensively illustrated, ribbon marker. Limited to 1000 numbered copies. Photography by John and Kirsten Gollings. New copy, sealed in shrink-wrap.

This magnificent 566-page publication arranged by renowned contemporary Carlier Makigawa to celebrate the life and work of her husband, Akio Makigawa, is possibly the most resplendent volume ever dedicated to the creative triumphs of a sculptor living in Australia. From the highly specialised binding to the combination of gloss and uncoated pages, carrying the unique design and fine photography throughout the 1000 numbered copies, this book is a fitting tribute to a sculptor whose distinctive abstract forms became familiar to Australian art-lovers in the 1980s and 1990s and continue to invest many public spaces with their special qualities. Makigawa’s abstract forms are shaped and composed with understated oriental finesse while the artist’s hand is ever present in the surfaces of the stone.

Winner : Best Designed Fully-Illustrated Book over $50, Australian Book Designer’s Association 2014