Vitra - Akari Table Lamp 1A

 

 

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In 1951, American/Japanese artist and designer Isamu Noguchi started to design the Akari Light Sculptures, a total of over 100 hand-made Shoji-paper models for table lights, standard lamps or ceiling luminaires. For the name of this lighting series he chose the word "akari", the Japanese terms for brightness and light, and also lightness. Collection Vitra Design Museum.

"The light of Akari is like the light of the sun filtered through the paper of shoji. The harshness of electricity is thus transformed through the magic of paper back to the light of our origin - the sun - so that its warmth may continue to fill our rooms at night." (Isamu Noguchi)

Design: Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles, the illegitimate son of Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet who had gained great acclaim in the United States, and Leonie Gilmour, an American writer who edited much of his work. He studied at the Columbia Universität and Designer Isamu Noguchi