American sculptor, designer and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi was born in Los Angeles in 1904 to the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Léonie Gilmour. He spent his early childhood in Japan, and the pull between East and West shaped his whole career. In Paris in the late 1920s he worked as an assistant to the sculptor Constantin Brâncu?i.
Noguchi is renowned for bringing sculpture into everyday life. His glass-topped coffee table of 1947, resting on two interlocking pieces of wood, remains one of the most celebrated pieces of Mid-Century furniture. From 1951 he developed Akari, more than 100 light sculptures made from washi paper and bamboo with craftsmen in Gifu, Japan; they are now produced by Vitra and Ozeki. Alongside furniture he made gardens, playgrounds, stage sets for Martha Graham and monumental public sculpture.
Noguchi died in 1988. The Noguchi Museum he founded in New York preserves his work, and Akari and the Noguchi table continue to shape how designers think about the line between art and object.
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was an American sculptor, furniture designer and landscape architect of Japanese and American heritage. He trained with Constantin Brâncu?i in Paris and founded the Noguchi Museum in New York.
Isamu Noguchi is known for the 1947 Noguchi coffee table, the Akari light sculptures of washi paper and bamboo developed from 1951, and for gardens, public sculpture and stage sets.
Isamu Noguchi brought sculpture into everyday design and connected Japanese craft with American Modernism. Vitra still produces the Noguchi table and Akari lights, and his New York museum preserves his work.
est living features 15 designs by Isamu Noguchi, from Vitra. Browse them on this page, where each product links to where you can buy it or enquire.
