Vitra - Akari 1AY table lamp

The Akari Light Sculptures (1951) by Isamu Noguchi are a series of lamps, handmade in traditional washi paper by Japanese artisans. " Through the magic of paper, the hardness of electricity transforms and returns to be the light of our origins: the sun". (Noguchi) In 1951 Japanese-born American artist Isamu Noguchi began designing the Akari Light Sculptures. A group of works made by hand with rice paper, which came to include over 100 lamps, table, floor and ceiling lamps. For these objects the artist chose the name "Akari", a Japanese word similar to the English term "light", which recalls the concepts of brightness and physical lightness. The light of Akari lamps is similar to sunlight filtered by rice paper. The coldness of electric light is thus transformed back into the light of our origins - that of the sun - thanks to the magic of paper, so that its heat continues to pervade our homes at night.  (Isamu Noguchi)

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was born in 1904 in Los Angeles to the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour, studied at Columbia University and the Leonardo da Vinci Art School. He founded his first independent studio and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1927. Noguchi became an assistant to Constantin Brancusi in Paris and presented his first solo exhibition in New York. After studying brush drawing in China, he travelled to Japan to work with clay under the master potter Jinmatsu Uno. His experiences living and working  in different cultural circles are reflected in his work as an artist .He is considered a universal talent with a creative oeuvre that went beyond sculpture to encompass stage sets, furniture, lighting, interiors as well as outdoor plazas and gardens. His sculptural style is indebted to a vocabulary of organic forms and exerted a sustained influence on the design of the 1950s

Vitra

Vitra is a Swiss company that produces furniture and interior design. Known for producing the works of important designers and architects.The headquarters are located in Weil am Rhein, Germany, where the famous Vitra Design Museum is also located.This story starts in the post-war years, when two Americans, both architects, Charles and Ray Eames, decided to help a furniture dealer.The collaboration led them to design and then produce masterpieces for interior design, which are still very current today.