Shiro Kuramata - Design London Wednesday, November 2, 2022 | Phillips
  • An advertisement for Vitra in Domus no. 714, featuring the painter Robert Rauschenberg seated in the present model armchair, 1990. Image: Archivio Domus - © Editoriale Domus S.p.A.
    An advertisement for Vitra in Domus no. 714, featuring the painter Robert Rauschenberg seated in the present model armchair, 1990.
    Image: Archivio Domus - © Editoriale Domus S.p.A.
    • Provenance

      Acquired directly from the manufacturer by the present owner, 1980s

    • Literature

      Domus, no. 714, March 1990, n.p.
      Domus, no. 788, December 1996, p. 55
      Shiro Kuramata, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, pp. 2-3, 20-21, 56-57, 59, 177, 181
      Domus, no. 858, April 2003, pp. 124-25

    • 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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48

'How High the Moon' armchair

circa 1986
Nickel-plated steel mesh, nickel-plated steel.
74 x 94.3 x 82.6 cm (29 1/8 x 37 1/8 x 32 1/2 in.)
Manufactured by Vitra, Basel, Switzerland. Underside with manufacturer's paper label printed THIS PRODUCT SHOULD BE TREATED AS A WORK OF ART. IT IS NOT INTENDED FOR CONTRACT USE/vitra.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£4,000 - 6,000 

Sold for £18,900

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 2 November 2022