Shiro Kuramata ‘How high the moon’ chair

Shiro Kuramata was as much a poet as designer, all of his designs both artwork and haiku. This armchair is no an exception, metaphorically titled ‘How high the moon’.

‘How high the moon’ was based on the traditional club chair, transforming it into a weightless form using expanded steel mesh. There is no additional structural support needed as the chair’s structure and ‘upholstery’, inside and out, are from one and the same metal.

Shiro Kuramata (1931 to 1991) was known for creating a fluid exchange between Japanese design philosophy and methodology and European postmodernism. His training was initially centred on traditional woodworking, however when he enrolled at the Kuwasawa Design School, his teacher Isamu Kenmochi helped him reimagine ancient Japanese traditions using modern materials. His designs are made from materials that have reflective, transparent, translucent, opaque and tactile qualities to them.

The chair appears in the literature: Baker, Malcolm, and Brenda Richardson (eds.), A Grand Design: The Art of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A Publications, 1999 among others. This example shows signs of surface age with very minor presence of rusting.

H71.5 W94 D82cm

K109E