The philosophical pillar of "mingei" is "ordinary people's crafts" (民衆的な工芸, "minshūteki na kōgei"). Yanagi theoretical and aesthetic proposition was that beauty was to be found in ordinary and utilitarian everyday objects made by nameless and unknown craftsmen – as opposed to higher forms of art created by named artists. In his first book outlining his concept of "mingei", originally published in 1928, he argued that utilitarian objects made by the common people were "beyond beauty and ugliness", and outlined a number of criteria that he considered essential to "true" "mingei" folk crafts.