Shiro Kuramata - Design New York Wednesday, June 9, 2021 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private collection
    Phillips, New York, "Design," December 15, 2015, lot 203
    Acquired from the above by the present owner

  • Literature

    "Il Vetro Incollato," Domus, no. 572, July 1977, p. 40
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Catalogue of Works, London, 2013, p. 297
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Essays & Writings, London, 2013, front cover, pp. 75, 86, 93-94, 210

  • 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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Property from an Important French Collection

76

“Glass Chair"

designed 1976
Glass, Photobond 100 adhesive.
35 x 35 3/8 x 23 5/8 in. (88.9 x 89.9 x 60 cm)
Produced by the Mihoya Glass Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. Number 20 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Meiko Kuramata.

Estimate
$30,000 - 50,000 

Sold for $88,200

Contact Specialist

DesignNewYork@phillips.com
212-940-1268

Design

New York Auction 9 June 2021