Tomoko Miho (1931–2012) was an American designer of Japanese origin, known primarily for her powerful posters inspired by Swiss international style.
Tomoko Miho. We haven’t established the author of this image. Please contact us if you are the rights owner.
Between the 1960s and 1980s Tomko worked for design firm George Nelson and Co. and then at the Center for Advanced Research in Design. In the 1980s she established her own firm, Tomoko Miho Co. Tomoko’s works are currently owned by MoMA, Library of Congress, and Cooper Hewitt. As a kid, Miho was held in American concentration camps as the daughter of Japanese-Americans, though she has rarely ever spoken about these experiences later in life.
65 bridges to New York poster created by Tomko Miho, 1968.
Miho attended the Minneapolis School of Art and the Art Center School in Los Angeles, earning a degree in industrial design. She was first employed as a packaging designer, but later went to work as an art director for George Nelson and Co. in New York. Miho is known for her clever use of perspective and ingenious utilization of space in both foreground and background. Her use of shapes and space make her pieces clean, crisp, and extremely readable with a touch of complexity. Miho attributes her design vision to an Asian garden philosophy, Shakkei. The intent is not to create a lesser representation of something beautiful that you have witnessed, but to incorporate the original beauty into your garden. Miho applied this principle to her work and carefully gardened every inch of graphic space. Miho served on the AIGA Board of Directors and was a long-time member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
Logo for Omniplan architectural company designed by Tomko Miho, 1970.
Great architecture in Chicago poster, 1967. Design: Tomoko Miho. © 2002–2019 Chicago Design Archive.
Herman Miller Library Group Catalog Brochure, 1968. Design: Tomko Miho. Creative Director: John Massey. © 2019 West Michigan Graphic Design Archives.
Born in Harlem to Trinidadi parents, Norma Merrick Sklarek (1926–2012) made history as the first African American woman to join the American Institute of Architects and start a female-led architectural firm.
Norma Merrick Sklarek © Pioneering Women. License: Creative Commons.
She was also the first Black woman to become a licensed architect in two states, New York and California. Sklarek’s perseverance and talent opened doors that had long been closed to women and people of color in architecture.
Commons Courthouse Center, Columbus, Ind. Photo by Korab, Balthazar. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Her passion for architecture overcame the prejudice of the time, earning her the title of the “Rosa Parks of architecture.” She worked at many renowned architecture firms, such as Welton Becket Associates, and eventually co-founded Siegel, Sklarek and Diamond, one of the most successful architecture companies in the world. Norma Merrick Sklarek believed that “architecture should be working on improving the environment of people in their homes, in their places of work, and their places of recreation. It should be functional and pleasant, not just in the image of the architect’s ego.” She played a crucial role in the design of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan, leaving her mark on an international scale. Her other notable projects include Fox Plaza in San Francisco, Terminal One at the Los Angeles International Airport, the Mall of America in Minnesota, and many more.
Center Green and the central fountain at the Pacific Design Center. From the Carol M. Highsmith Archive collection at the Library of Congress.
Building of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, Japan © Designpulp. License: Creative Commons.