Shiro Kuramata
shiro kuramata died 10 years ago.
he translated workaday industrial materials
-wire steel mesh, corrugated aluminium, lucite-
into poetic objects and interiors.
kuramata’s designs reflect the confidence and creativity
of postwar japan, retaining a strong identity based on
traditional japanese aesthetics while breaking new ground
through the use of innovative materials. he combined the
japanese concept of the unity of the arts with his fascination
with contemporary western culture, inventing a new design
vocabulary: : the ephemeral, the sensation of floating and
release from gravity, transparency and the construction of light.
kuramata reassessed the relationship between form and function,
imposing his own vision of the surreal and of minimalist ideals
on everyday objects.
