Shiro Kuramata

SHIRO KURAMATA

(1934-1991)

For my second post of the designer investigation, I chose to try and learn a little more about Shiro Kuramata. I figured that I had already done an investigation on a designer I knew previously, so it was time to step out of the box and just pick someone that I have never heard of. Shiro Kuramata seemed to be a good choice, as he is renowned as one of Japan's leading twentieth century designers of furniture and interiors.

Kuramata got his start in 1953 when he graduated from Tokyo Polytechnic High School, where he studied woodcraft. He then went on to spend a year working for Teikokukizai, a Japanese furniture manufacturer. He studied interior design at the Kuwazawa Institute for Design until 1956, when he then went on to work as a retail designer for Matsuy, a department store in Tokyo, until 1963. It was two years after his departure from Matsuy when he established his first office of design in Tokyo.

Drawer in an Irregular Form

Kuramata was intrigued with ways of unifying the Japanese concepts of art with a more Western, minimalistic flair. He went on to design over 300 bars and restuarants as an interior designer, but became famous almost instantly in 1977 for his furniture piece, "Drawer in an Irregular Form". After his success with the piece, he went on to produce many other pieces of furniture that have become staples of his career, such as his "Miss Blanche" chair and his "How High the Moon" chair.

In the later stages of his career, Kuramata won many prestigious design awards, such as the Odres des Arts et des Lettres, which was awarded to him in 1990 by the French government. He has worked on and designed over 180 furniture forms in his career, all of which being stunningly simple yet incredibly functional; a testament to his minimalistic nature. Sadly, Shiro Kuramata passed away in 1991, but he left his legacy in his fantastic, simple pieces of furniture that evoked such strong emotion among many of his followers.

Miss Blanche

How High the Moon

http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/shiro/html/kuramata.html
http://www.paulhughes.co.uk/conthome/kuramata/shiro.html