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In Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows (1933), the Japanese author dissects the use of light in the east and west. Of the east, he writes, “We find beauty not in the thing itself but in the patterns of shadows, the light and the darkness, that one thing against another creates.” Later, he adds, “In making for ourselves a place to live, we first spread a parasol to throw a shadow on the earth, and in the pale light of the shadow, we put together a house.”
These ideas informed Japanese American artist and architectural designer Isamu Noguchi, known for his masterful approach to sculpture. Throughout his multidisciplinary career, he designed playgrounds and gardens in addition to furniture, which included tables, sofas, and Akari light sculptures—most of which are still in production today. Noguchi created the Akari series, a term meaning “light as illumination,” after observing traditional lantern construction in Gifu, Japan. Similar to Tanizaki, Noguchi once mused, “All that you require to start a home are a room, a tatami, and Akari.”
From this point of view, which regards objects sculpturally in relation to light and space, we can understand the continued relevance of Noguchi’s works. His pieces are a mainstay of stylish yet practical homes, Pinterest boards, museum collections, and art galleries. Search the #noguchi hashtag on social media and you’ll find thousands of images celebrating his classic designs. In response to the challenges of the last two years, Noguchi’s pieces have earned even more appreciation for their uplifting and engaging qualities. Made during his own era of global upheaval, they continue to inspire contemplation, action, and joy.
The stewards of Noguchi’s legacy at the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, in Queens, are used to noticing these contextual shifts. “In a time of great trauma and anxiety in the world, Noguchi’s works are instruments of power and focus,” Brett Littman, a director and curator, says. “Perhaps this is why they are being embraced and recognized again as dynamic and instructive rather than as modernist static objects to be forgotten.”
Amy Auscherman, Herman Miller’s director of archives and brand heritage, agrees with this notion of dynamism present in Noguchi’s pieces—including the glass-and-wood table he made for Herman Miller, in 1944, and the Cyclone table he made for Knoll, in 1954. “Noguchi changed people’s perceptions of what a table could look like,” she explains. “Already a famous sculptor, he used to say, ‘Everything is sculpture.’ He took that ethos and applied it to tables that, at the time, looked like they were from outer space. He industriously collaborated with manufacturers to elevate everyday living and create art at a more accessible level. He ended up rendering some cool, now pretty iconic, pieces.”
These days, the foundation works to further Noguchi’s legacy, in part by collaborating with other brands and galleries. Recently, the Woolmark Company worked with artist FKA Twigs and seven Woolmark Prize design finalists to create a film celebrating the idea of “play,” a key concept for Noguchi. In it, the cast interacts with and climbs on sculptures from his 1968 Octetra series, as he intended. “The theme of ‘play,’ an essential part of society and a creative catalyst, seems only fitting after two years of lockdowns, and it invited the finalists to really explore and experiment,” John Roberts, Woolmark’s CEO, says.
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Recently, the foundation also staged a popular exhibition with the White Cube gallery, in London, titled A New Nature, combining a large assortment of Noguchi’s purpose-built play equipment, a set of galvanized steel sculptures, a 40-foot waterfall installation, and nearly 100 Akaris. It ambitiously showcased Noguchi’s range of disciplines to explore his beliefs about harmonizing our relationship with the planet. “His approach to ecology—making the world better through repair, better stewardship, and innovation—is exciting and powerful because it accounts for humanity as it is, asking us to think like nature and enhance rather than destroy the world,” Dakin Hart, senior curator at The Noguchi Museum, says.
While Noguchi’s works have been exhibited and celebrated for decades, their timelessness is not lost on younger generations. When AD toured the newly renovated home of Troye Sivan last year, the singer-songwriter beamed about creating a “soup of light” with Akari light sculptures. Sivan said that, in partnership with Flack Studio, he aimed for “soft light that just kind of gently fills the room.” The actress Ashley Tisdale recently told AD that even a medical procedure couldn’t get in the way of her purchasing one of the taller Akari lights, which sell out quickly on the museum’s website.
Another Akari collector, Victor Sanchez, also known as @viiiiics on TikTok, says, “I think people, especially Gen Z who are getting their first apartments and spent more time at home during lockdowns, realize how important lighting and design are. Also, social media algorithms have eliminated any gatekeeping as to how you can actually get these pieces.”
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Alana Tang, who founded In The Comfort Of, owns three Akari light sculptures and routinely sources and sells vintage Noguchi works. “It’s hard to look at something as intriguing as an Akari light sculpture, truly a piece of functional art, and not be instantly captivated by its form,” she says. Collectors like Moe Flaherty, who resides in the Gerald Luss House, in Ossining, New York, also can’t get enough of the Akaris; his family lives among 14 of them. “We started with one when we first moved into the house, and soon realized we needed one in every room, sometimes two,” he explains.
Beyond their beauty, Noguchi’s works maintain relevance in their lightness, dynamism, and deep understanding of our living and planetary environments. His pieces, intended for public consumption and use, live on in the spaces and shadows of those who collect them, admire them, and embrace the perspective of this late, great visionary. “Noguchi was always interested in what I would call the ‘in-between,’” concludes Brett Littman. “I think today’s creatives are looking at him with new interest because of the values and approaches he represents: hybridity, pacifism, the relationship between art and nature, fearless multidisciplinarity, and the ways in which tradition and history can be braided into the present and the future.”
