Shiro Kuramata - Design and Design Art New York Thursday, May 24, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Gallery Mourmans, Netherlands

  • Literature

    Giuliana Gramigna, Repertorio 1950/1980, Milan, 1985, p. 512; Barbara Radice, MEMPHIS Research, experiences, results, failures and successes of new design, London, 1985, p. 66; Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, p. 83; Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., Domus Vol. IX 1980-1984, Cologne, 2006, p. 212 for a similar example

  • Catalogue Essay

    The first pieces in the series were made for Memphis by Renzo Brugola who was a partner in the beginning of the company’s existence.

  • 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).

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258

Rare pair of prototype “Imperial” cabinets

1981
Oak. Manufactured by Memphis, Italy (2).
Each: 58 5/8 x 13 3/4 x 15 3/4 in. (148.9 x 34.9 x 40 cm)

Estimate
$20,000 - 30,000 

Design and Design Art

24 May 2007
2pm New York