cgk.ink · special collections
East
AsianArt & Design
Three cultures with intertwined histories. Each speaks in its own vivid style while staying in conversation with a shared heritage.
Three voices
One shared
heritage
Explore how each culture shaped its own visual language — and how they borrowed, traded and answered one another across centuries.
China
The oldest continuous artistic expression on Earth. Exceptionally advanced pottery, painting and stoneware pre-date almost all other cultures. Influential far beyond its own borders, Chinese art formed the region's traditional expression.
Read more →Japan
Isolated and yet worldly at the same time, Japanese artworks express secular and religious symbolism, royal wealth and everyday work. Outstanding woodwork, textiles and calligraphy create a creative legacy unique in the world.
Read more →Korea
Strategically positioned, Korea kept its independence and developed extraordinary traditions of ceramics, metalworking and decorative art. Cross-cultural influences created a rich vocabulary of form, design and artistic expression.
Read more →A note on scope
East Asia — roughly China, Japan and Korea — is a vast place.
Many cultures fall outside this general term. The three largest countries share deep similarities — and even deeper distinctions — in how their cultures are expressed through art.
From the journal
Read the
stories
Symbols, influences and traditions behind the designs in the collection.
China
Chinese symbols and motifs are more than decoration. Often drawn from nature, they carry meanings the Chinese people have used and understood for thousands of years…
Read more →Japan
Over time the Japanese learned to absorb, imitate and finally assimilate the elements of foreign culture that suited their aesthetic. The earliest complex art in Japan dates to the 7th and 8th centuries…
Read more →Korea
For thousands of years, Korean people wore plain white, undecorated hanbok almost exclusively. Color and ornament appeared only for uniforms, social rank or special occasions…
Read more →Choose a door
Slide one open to step into its designs, symbols and stories.