Tomoko Miho papers

Collection — Box: 1-25

Identifier: CSC-0102

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This is a large collection that consists of personal papers and client files of AIGA award winning graphic designer Tomoko Miho. It includes desk calendars, scrapbooks, sketches, mock ups, and work samples. This collection is still in process. Please contact Cary Graphic Design Archives for more information.

Dates

Creation: 1931-2002

Creator

Miho, Tomoko (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers.

Biographical / Historical

Tomoko Miho (née Kawakami, 1931, Los Angeles USA - 2012) was a Japanese-American designer and recipient of the 1993 Aiga Medal. Kawakami was born in Los Angeles in 1931 and spent her early days in the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona. She attended the Minneapolis School of Art and the Art Center School in Los Angeles where she earned a degree in industrial design. Her husband was fellow designer, James Miho. She worked for Herman Miller furniture and the Center for Advanced Research in Design (for Container Corporation of America and Atlantic Richfiled Company). In the 1980s she founded her own studio "Tomoko Miho & Co". Her clients included MoMa, Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Isamu Noguchi Foundation, Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens, Willem de Kooning Foundation, Kodansha International, and Aveda.

Her work is strongly influenced by Swiss international typographic style. Her architecturally infused works where honoured with numerous prizes and have been featured in international exhibitions.