Book excerpt: Super Potato Design is the first full-length book to present the work and conceptual ideas of the internationally renowned Japanese design firm Super Potato, founded by Takashi Sugimoto. Super Potato's powerful designs for the interiors of restaurants, shops and hotels, as well as Takashi Sugimoto's designs for tea ceremony spaces and utensils, are richly complex compositions of materials which create simple, strong spaces. Using traditional Japanese building materials such as bamboo, wood, and stone, but crating original yet timeless spaces, Super Potato's designs avoid specific stylistic characterizations and short-lived fashion. By finding contemporary expression for important concepts present in traditional Japan and combining materials in unexpected ways to create exciting spaces, Super Potato's work has had a significant impact on interior design in Japan and throughout Asia. Super Potato Design is generously illustrated with 320 full-color photographs by the respected Japanese photographer Yoshio Shiratori, who has recorded Super Potatos projects since the firm's conception in 1973. Architect and Japan scholar Mira Locher introduces the ideas and influences of Takashi Sugimoto, the founder and principle designer of Super Potato, and provides a thorough explanation of each project. Architectural drawings further describe the projects. A forward by Tadao Anso, interviews between Takashi Sugimoto and architect Kiyoshi Sey Takeyama, and also graphic designer Kenya Hara, explore the ideas relevant to Japanese designers today. A list of the Complete Works of Super Potato rounds off the book.