Seven Icons of Japanese Design

Today, interest in Japanese design is growing worldwide. New exhibitions are appearing in galleries and museums, and the publishing house Thames & Hudson has released a major reference book on the subject. This lecture is also a kind of guide.

It will not offer a detailed history of Japanese design (such a story would require several lectures). Instead, it serves as an introduction to the topic: seven short stories about key masterpieces of Japanese design from the mid-20th to the early 21st century.

We will talk about:

• Akari lamps by Isamu Noguchi

• the Butterfly Stool by Sori Yanagi

• the Teiza chair by Junzo Sakakura

• the Kikkoman soy sauce bottle by Kenji Ekuan

• the Tawaraya podium by Masanori Umeda

• the Miss Blanche chair by Shiro Kuramata

• the MUJI CD player by Naoto Fukasawa