MUAS is a boutique ceramic atelier (and also a cafe), with products present worldwide, known for beautiful, yet bold and out-of-the-ordinary creations.

Japanese minimalism provided the foundation, aligning with the owners’ cultural inspiration while establishing luxury associations. Generous white space and editorial layouts created breathing room around products, transforming presentation from catalog merchandising to gallery curation. The simplified palette used warm greys inspired by clay tones, providing subtle backgrounds that enhanced rather than overshadowed the rich product glazes. Typography reinforced premium positioning through deliberate scale – small, spread-out text in English and Japanese added sophisticated detail without competing with photography. The organic, rounded logo softened stark minimalism while referencing clay forms. Despite simplification, the MUAS letterforms retained distinctiveness, demonstrating the thoughtful reduction characteristic of luxury design. This visual strategy positioned MUAS as a ceramics gallery rather than retail shop, fundamentally shifting customer expectations and justifying premium pricing. The identity successfully communicated that MUAS products exist at the intersection of craft, design, and art – transforming purchases from functional decisions to cultural investments.

Throughout printed matter, Neue Haas Grotesk is paired with snippets of Japanese text set in M PLUS 1p; on the bilingual website, text is rendered in Inter.

From record label Squama:

Pianist Masako Ohta and trumpet player Matthias Lindermayr are back on Squama with ‘Nozomi’, the follow-up to their 2022 debut ‘MMMMH’. The Japanese title, which translates to ‘hope’, felt fitting, as the album was conceived during a time of personal loss for Ohta, during and after which music proved itself as a beacon of hope.

Taking the element of improvisation to the visual level, Tokyo-based photographer Daisuke Tomizawa shot two atmospheric images for each song of the new album – portraits of everyday life that capture the feeling of the music. The photographs are featured in a 24-page Risograph-printed booklet that accompanies the second collaborative release by Ohta and Lindermayr.

Nozomi was designed by Maximilian Schachtner using Melange Grotesk in Medium and Bold, with M 2c Bold for Japanese text. Calligraphy and stamp by Ko Huihuang.

New record by Jonathan Bockelmann, released on Squama, who write:

Jonathan Bockelmann is a classical guitarist and composer based in Munich who first made waves in 2023 with his debut album Childish Mind. His entry into composing were arrangements he had made of pieces by Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. Some of these have been released digitally in three editions and are now available on vinyl for the first time. The record comes in high quality packaging with an embossed art print and features both some of Sakamoto’s lesser-known works like the ‘Suite for Krug’ as well as iconic pieces like ‘Bibo No Aozora’.

Design by Maximilian Schachtner, using Waldenburg Schmal, paired with Japanese text set in M PLUS 1.

M PLUS in use for a composition inspired by “Always With Me,” an airy, melancholic song by Kimura Youmi from the Spirited Away soundtrack. The lyrics to the song are laid out in Katakana and come together to form abstract graphics.

Attack on the Bakery—Again, a short story by Japanese author Haruki Murakami. I translated the piece from Japanese to English as an undergraduate student at Brown University. The center, a separator, contains graphics, abstracted from paintings graciously used with permission by Ludovic Philippon, that reference themes from the story.

The design plays off of literary contrasts: density vs. emptiness, fulfillment vs. listlessness. Margins are tight to evoke a feeling of confinement. Abstract graphics provide a counter-point to the body copy—they are expansive, irregular, colorful, and saturated. The English translation is set in Unica; M PLUS is used for the Japanese text.

The book can be read from either side with a 180° flip—the center spreads, a bridge between the two languages.