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From the late ‘80s through the ‘90s, the SPATS series gained cult classic status with large design agencies, edgy freelancers, and in-house design departments. While Yasuda’s art became prolific, with a total of 20 books and thousands of bold black and white prints, the man behind the art remained an enigma. “I’d meet other artists and designers and the SPATS books would often come up in conversation. Some people had books four and seven and nine while others would only have a single copy of say, book three, with missing pages and extensive wear. None of us knew anything about the artist. It was all shrouded in mystery,” Eli says.

Over the next 20 years, Eli sought out and purchased different SPATS books, some of them so rare that they cost hundreds of dollars, all of them offering bold patterns for other artists to use copyright-free. The mystery became unbearable. “These days you can find anyone and learn anything about them in a five-minute Google search. If they’re not on Facebook, then they’re on Instagram or LinkedIn,” Eli says. “But searching Hironori Yasuda only turns up a limited number of random SPATS patterns … no images of the artist himself, it was like he was just a ghost.”
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