Shiro Kuramata - Design London Tuesday, October 31, 2023 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private Collection, Europe
    Barry Friedman, New York

  • Literature

    'Il Vetro Incollato', Domus, no. 572, July 1977, p. 40
    Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, n.p.
    Yasuko Seki, ed., Shiro Kuramata and Ettore Sottsass, exh. cat., 21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, 2001, p. 40
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Essays & Writings, London, 2013, front cover, pp. 75, 86, 93-94, 210
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Catalogue of Works, London, 2013, p. 297

  • Catalogue Essay

    Examples of the 'Glass' chair are in the permanent collection of the Corning Museum of Glass, New York; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; the Toyama City Museum of Modern Art and the New York Museum of Modern Art.

  • 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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Δ57

'Glass Chair'

1976
Glass, Photobond 100 adhesive.
89.6 x 89.9 x 60 cm (35 1/4 x 35 3/8 x 23 5/8 in.)
Produced by the Mihoya Glass Co. Ltd., Japan. Number 31 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Mieko Kuramata.

Estimate
£18,000 - 24,000 

Sold for £22,860

Contact Specialist

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

 

Design

London Auction 31 October 2023