AKARI

Designed by the sculptor Isamu Noguchi, Akari is a series of light sculptures made from bamboo ribbing and traditional Japanese washi paper. First conceived in 1951, this series of designs was inspired by traditional paper lanterns that Noguchi encountered in Gifu while traveling to Hiroshima to design an unrealized Memorial to the Dead of Hiroshima. Noguchi continued to develop Akari throughout his later years, creating approximately 200 variations. Working with lanterns made of bamboo and washi paper, he arrived at a new direction for sculpture: the radical insight that objects emitting softly translucent light could themselves be sculpture. He envisioned these works being enjoyed by people everywhere—across cultures and regardless of wealth.