Shiro Kuramata - Editions, Photographs and Design Hong Kong Thursday, December 12, 2024 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Seibu department store, Sendai, Japan
    Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1988

  • Literature

    'Apartment renovation: limited space, such a wonderful space', Replan, Volume 2, 1990, illustrated pp. 58-59
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Essays & Writings, London, 2013, pp. 102, 114, 139-40, 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

  • Catalogue Essay

    The present sofa is one of Shiro Kuramata's most recognisable designs, combining the material, thematic and referential tropes which earned Kuramata his status as a design revolutionary in post-war Japan. It is an early example of this classic piece, the fineness of its steel mesh, measuring a mere 1.6mm thick, setting it apart from the 2.3mm mesh used in later models, and its chrome-plating differing from the more ubiquitous later nickel-plated examples.

    In the 1970s and 1980s, Kuramata focused his efforts on the formation of 'invisible objects', turning to ethereal materials such as mesh, glass and acrylic to create pieces which figured as playful distortions of deep-rooted symbols of Western design. Composed of expanded metal mesh, the 'How High is the Moon' sofa made use of an industrial design vocabulary of particular significance for Japanese designers during the post-war period of urbanisation and Westernisation, and exploited the alternation of absence and presence inherent to the medium to create an evocative reinterpretation of the typical Western bourgeois sofa.

    Kuramata was drawn to industrial steel mesh, a material which, in his own words, 'proliferates like a cell within the process of eliminating', for its decorative value as much as its thematic effects, working it into many of his major designs from the '45º Latitude' table of 1985 to the 'Sing Sing' and 'Hal' chairs of 1985 and 1987. Only in the 'How High is the Moon' sofa and armchair series of 1986, however, would he isolate expanded metal mesh as his near-exclusive design medium. Organising the punctuated sheet metal around a void, Kuramata created a moiré  effect, repurposing the austere, inorganic material into an expressive form which vibrates visually as the onlooker approaches it.

    Becoming a trademark piece in Kuramata's celebrated oeuvre, the legacy of the 'How High is the Moon' sofa adds weight to its title, a wistful reference to Nancy Hamilton's iconic jazz standard of 1940. Exploring solids and voids in their physical and conceptual components, Kuramata's work chimes with Hamilton's, beckoning a distant lover in a tender evocation of the elusive nature of connection.

  • 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

17

Early 'How High the Moon' two-seater sofa

designed 1986, produced 1988
Chrome-plated steel mesh, chrome-plated steel.
71.5 x 156 x 82.5 cm (28 1/8 x 61 3/8 x 32 1/2 in.)
Manufactured by Terada Tekkojo for Idée, Tokyo, Japan. Together with a copy of the original invoice.

Estimate
HK$60,000 - 80,000 
€7,300-9,700
$7,700-10,300

Sold for HK$330,200

Contact Specialist

Nick Wilson
Senior Director, Head of Editions, Photographs and Design, Asia
nickwilson@phillips.com
+852 2318 2022
 

Editions, Photographs and Design

Hong Kong Auction 12 December 2024