Shiro Kuramata - Important Design London Wednesday, April 25, 2018 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Friedman Benda, New York
    Private collection, New York

  • Literature

    'Il Vetro Incollato', Domus, no. 572, July 1977, p. 40
    Arata Isozaki and Ettore Sottsass, Shiro Kuramata 1967-1987, Tokyo, 1988, p. 57
    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, pp. 75, 86, 93-94, 210
    Deyan Sudjic, Shiro Kuramata: Catalogue of Works, London, 2013, p. 297, fig. 184

  • 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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97

'Glass' chair

designed 1976, executed 2008
Glass, Photobond 100 adhesive.
89.2 x 89.8 x 60 cm (35 1/8 x 35 3/8 x 23 5/8 in.)
Produced by the Mihoya Glass Co. Ltd., Japan. Number 32 from the edition of 40. Together with a certificate of authenticity from Mieko Kuramata.

Estimate
£25,000 - 35,000 

Sold for £32,500

Contact Specialist
Madalena Horta e Costa
Head of Sale
+44 20 7318 4019

Important Design

London Auction 26 April 2018