Shiro Kuramata - Design London Tuesday, November 9, 2021 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Private collection, Lisbon, acquired directly from Vitra, Basel

  • Literature

    Domus, no. 714, March 1990, n.p.
    Domus, no. 788, December 1996, p. 55
    Shiro Kuramata 1934-1991, exh. cat., Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, 1996, pp. 60, 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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280

'How High the Moon' armchair

1986
Nickel-plated steel mesh.
73.3 x 95.5 x 83 cm (28 7/8 x 37 5/8 x 32 5/8 in.)
Produced by Vitra, Basel, Switzerland.

Estimate
£4,000 - 6,000 Ω

Sold for £9,072

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 9 November 2021