Shiro Kuramata - Design London Wednesday, September 26, 2012 | Phillips

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  • Literature

    Matthias Dietz and Michael Mönninger, Japan Design, Cologne, 1992, pp. 77-79
    Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, pl. 29, pp. 195-96, figs. 4
    David A. Hanks, Anne Hoy and Martin Eidelberg, Design for Living: Furniture and Lighting 1950-2000, exh. cat., Montreal Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris, 2000, pp. 224-25
    Jean-Louis Gaillemin, ed., Design Contre Design: Deux siècles de créations, exh. cat., Galerie Nationale du Grand Palais, Paris, 2007, p. 288

  • 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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36

'Acrylic Stool'

designed 1990
Acrylic, aluminum, feathers.
55 x 33 x 41 cm (21 5/8 x 12 7/8 x 16 1/8 in)
Manufactured by Ishimuri, Japan. Number 34 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Meiko Kuramata.

Estimate
£30,000 - 40,000 

Sold for £37,250

Design

27 September 2012
London