By Delia Zamir | Jul 29, 2010
The Renaissance Men: Asian designers who first merged the concept of East and West
Minimalist design, which is also known as a modern classic, is now an established household name and is a preferred type of design that almost everyone can enjoy.
Shiro Kuramata and Isamu Noguchi are two artists and new-age Renaissance men who helped the modern classic movement. They were originally inspired by the juxtaposition of Eastern philosophy and Western practicality. Kuramata was the urbanist who received his ideas from post-War Japan’s flowering economic growth in electronics and metal manufacturing, whereas Noguchi took a more organic approach and his designs were driven by Japan’s natural outdoors and manicured landscapes.
Regardless of the approach, these two men forever transformed the look and feel of Western furniture and have since then became enormously influential in the interior design world.
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| Shiro Kuramata - Filepic from vitra.com |
Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991)
Shiro Kuramata was, and remains as one of Japan's most important designers of the 20th century. Kuramata was mainly known for his use of industrial materials such as wire steel mesh and Lucite, and he recreated the concept of architectural interiors and furniture utilizing these basic materials. He rethought the concept of Western furniture by creating pieces that combined strong minimalist Japanese influences.
Kuramata led Japan’s design explosion since the mid-1960s and gained international recognition during the 1980s. He is best known for his How High the Moon chair – a stark piece of wire mesh furniture that symbolised the emerging dynamism and flowering creativity of post-war Japan. In fact, Kuramata’s approach to furniture and interior design are fueled by the development of the nation after the war, namely its technical and economic growth during the era that led to now-omnipresent consumer commodities such as the compact car, the portable radio, the cassette player and the video game.
Kuramata was born in Tokyo during a period between the wars and was the son of a vice-director of a scientific institute. He came of age during the American occupation in Japan, and perhaps here began his fascination in wanting to combine Japanese concepts with contemporary American or Western culture. His artwork is almost always simple in its form, yet conveys strength and even retains a mischievous edge for its 'ready-made' association of the materials that he liked to use. Kuramata transformed common industrial materials such as wire mesh and lucite into radical yet functional objects.
In 1990, the French government awarded Kuramata the distinguished Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition for his outstanding contribution to art and design. This Order marks Kuramata as having played a part in the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance.
Kuramata died in 1991 and left a legacy of stark modern classic designs imbued with tongue-in-cheek humour, yet tremendous in artistic value.
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L-R:
Glass Chair, 1976 – Filepic from shirokuramata.com
18-drawer desk commissioned by Cappellini, 1970 – Filepic from shirokuramata.com
How High The Moon sofa, 1986 – Filepic from shirokuramata.com |
Isamu Noguchi (1904 –1988)
Isamu Noguchi was a prominent Japanese-American artist, sculptor, furniture designer and landscape architect. To the world, he is best known for the Noguchi Coffee Table, a famous design blending nature and modernity, and one of the most sought after pieces associated with the modern classic furniture movement. But, Noguchi is above all a sculptor and designer of public works.
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| Isamu Noguchi - Filepic from vitra.com |
Throughout his life, Noguchi sought to recreate natural botanic surroundings of Japan and to bring out its beauty through his designs. Through his sculpture and architecture, Noguchi believed that one could better understand the struggle of balance with nature. It is that search for understanding that brought together Noguchi’s many and varied works.
Noguchi was born in Los Angeles in 1904 to Leonie Gilmour, an Irish-American teacher and Yone Noguchi, a Japanese poet. It was the cultural divide between his parents' East and West roots that engaged his imagination and drove his art.
During his career Noguchi constantly traveled back and forth from his home country to Japan. His aesthetic inspiration was rooted deep in the Japanese minimalist approach and furthermore he admired the Japanese history of craftsmanship and sought to recreate his own designs following the same level of quality. Noguchi would return there constantly throughout his life to work, study, and live. Noguchi was well respected by many artists during his lifetime but never really belonged to any movement or school aside from general modern classicism.
In 1985, Noguchi designed and created The Noguchi Museum to preserve and display his sculptures, architectural models, stage designs, drawings, and furniture designs.
In 1988, Noguchi was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, Third Class by the Japanese government. Noguchi died in the same year at the age of 84, but his influence continues to spread and inspire the modern classic movement until today.
Memorable quotes:
"The essence of sculpture is for me the perception of space, the continuum of our existence."
"I had a revelation in 1933 - of the earth outdoors as a new way of conceiving sculpture."
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L-R:
Noguchi Coffee Table, 1944 – Filepic from furniturebyclick.co.uk
Dining table, 1954 – Filepic from treadwaygallery.com
Freeform Sofa & Ottoman, 1946 – Filepic from vitra.com |
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