Shiro Kuramata - 20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in Association with Poly Auction Hong Kong Sunday, November 28, 2021 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Estate of Shiro Kuramata
    Paul Hughes Fine Art, London
    Private collection, The Netherlands
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Essays & Writings, London, 2013, pp. 102, 114, 139, 140, 161 for the armchair version of the model
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Catalogue of Works, London, 2013, pp. 340, 346 for the armchair version of the model

  • Artist Biography

    Shiro Kuramata

    Japanese • 1934 - 1991

    Shiro Kuramata is widely admired for his ability to free his designs from gravity and use materials in ways that defied convention. After a restless childhood, his ideas of being an illustrator having been discouraged, Kuramata discovered design during his time at the Teikoku Kizai Furniture Factory in Arakawa-ku in 1954. The next year he started formal training at the Department of Interior Design at the Kuwasawa Design Institute. His early work centered on commercial interiors and window displays. In 1965, at the age of 31, he opened his own firm: Kuramata Design Office.

    Throughout his career he found inspiration in many places, including the work of Italian designers (particularly those embodying the Memphis style) and American conceptual artists like Donald Judd, and combined such inspirations with his own ingenuity and creativity. His dynamic use of materials, particularly those that were transparent, combination of surfaces and awareness of the potential of light in design led him to create objects that stretched structural boundaries and were also visually captivating. These qualities are embodied in his famous Glass Chair (1976).

    View More Works

159

'How High the Moon' two-seater sofa

copper-plated steel mesh and copper-plated steel
71 x 150 x 82 cm. (27 7/8 x 59 x 32 1/4 in.)
Designed in 1986 and manufactured by Terada Tekkojo for Idée, Tokyo, Japan. Number 21 from the edition of 30. Together with a copy of the certificate of authenticity from Mieko Kuramata.

Estimate
HK$250,000 - 350,000 
€31,900-44,700
$32,100-44,900

Sold for HK$441,000

Contact Specialist

Danielle So
Specialist, Head of Day Sale
+852 2318 2027
danielleso@phillips.com

20th Century & Contemporary Art & Design Day Sale in Association with Poly Auction

Hong Kong Auction 29 November 2021