The Japanese American Cultural Community Center (JACCC), located in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo district, has evolved into one of the largest ethnic art and cultural centers in the United States. As a hub for Japanese and Japanese American visual, culinary and performance art, JACCC strives to dissolve the barriers separating traditional and contemporary.

As part of an initiative to elevate the Center, Collective was invited to provide a fresh perspective and build the enhanced visibility needed in LA’s crowded cultural landscape. We developed a visual system informed by the concept of wabi-sabi — centered on the acceptance of aesthetic transience and imperfection — that can be applied across the full spectrum of communications. The system includes a color palette referencing the Japanese celebration of the four distinct seasons as well as a range of patterns that are chopped up and reconfigured, inspired by kimono/obi drapery and Furoshiki layering/wrapping.