A book is like a friend. We understand the world and life, or even observe ourselves through texts, and have a deep realization of oneself that we are not alone. PMQ invites different people from design and culture sectors to recommend a book, so that you can enrich yourselves as book therapy.

Pan Tang: This is a book about communication. In the age of rapid technological development, baker Jin Tomonori still uses letters asking Nakamura Yoshifumi to design and build new shop. The content of this book records all the letters in the whole process, and describes the details of the building. Rather than focusing on how beautiful the design is, the book explores the deep exchange of emotions between the clients and designers.

This kind of friendship and working relationship can allow both users and designers to freely express themselves even with differences, that is something that every designer yearns for. As Nakamura said: “As these letters piling up, it’s like building a house with stones. The seemingly ordinary stones will one day turn into a solid house.”

While the city heartbeat slows down, it may be time to think about how to communicate with people, and to make ourselves a better me.