Relations between Mingei, Japanese Folk Art movements, and English Arts and Crafts have been discussed extensively. Although William Morris's influence on Yanagi's theory is obvious in its criticism of wage labor relations and for-profit mass production, the Japanese movement insisted on distancing itself from western influences to promoted a unique local identity. Modernist critics argued that Mingei was a sort of reversed orientalism with a romanticized take on traditional means of production. But it is also clear that Japanese Folk Art had, in return, a tremendous influence on modernist designers such as Charlotte Perriand.
Relations between Mingei, Japanese Folk Art movements, and English Arts and Crafts have been discussed extensively. Although William Morris's influence on Yanagi's theory is obvious in its criticism of wage labor relations and for-profit mass production, the Japanese movement insisted on distancing itself from western influences to promoted a unique local identity. Modernist critics argued that Mingei was a sort of reversed orientalism with a romanticized take on traditional means of production. But it is also clear that Japanese Folk Art had, in return, a tremendous influence on modernist designers such as Charlotte Perriand.