Akari Light

Noguchi Paper Floor Lamp

Mid Century Modern Table Noguchi

1950s Noguchi

Japanese Paper Lighting

Japanese Mid Century Lamp

Japanese Metal Table Lamp

Early Isamu Noguchi Lamps By Akari

Gifu Lantern

Isamu Noguchi Akari light sculpture, model 4N

$9,350

Isamu Noguchi Akari light sculpture, model 4N

Located in New York, NY

The Akari Light Sculpture, Model 4N by Isamu Noguchi is a celebrated example of the artist’s exploration of light, form, and traditional craftsmanship.

Category

Vintage 1960s Table Lamps

Materials

Steel

Isamu Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture Model 1P

$7,500

Isamu Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture Model 1P

By Isamu Noguchi

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Isamu Noguchi Akari light sculpture. Model 1P. Early model, marked with iconic red sun and moon ideogram.

Category

Mid-20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Metal

Pair of Isamu Noguchi Akari 10A Floor Lamps

By Ozeki & Co. Ltd. 1, Isamu Noguchi

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Highly collectible, Akari light sculptures by Isamu Noguchi are now considered icons of 1950s modern design.

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Japanese Anglo-Japanese Floor Lamps

Materials

Materials

Iron

Noguchi Akari light sculpture/ floor lamp

Sold

H 50 in W 20 in D 20 in

Noguchi Akari light sculpture/ floor lamp

Located in Highland, IN

For years Noguchi explored a wide variety of shapes and forms with his Akari light sculptures. They combine traditional Japanese materials and craftsmanship with modernist design.

Category

Vintage 1950s Japanese Floor Lamps

Materials

Paper, Bamboo

Rare Isamu Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture

Sold

H 20.5 in W 12 in D 11.25 in

Rare Isamu Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture

Located in Los Angeles, CA

Signature stamped Akari light sculpture with box Paper shade; orange, brown and natural Limited (discontinued) series sold only in Japan Model No.

Vintage Isamu Noguchi Floor Lamp

Sold

H 65.5 in Dm 8 in

Vintage Isamu Noguchi Floor Lamp

By Isamu Noguchi

Located in Brooklyn, NY

Authentic Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture lamp is anchored by a dome of heavy black iron and topped by a lightweight paper shade.

Materials

Metal

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Jean Besnard, French Art Deco, Ceramic, Table Lamp, France, 1960s

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H 6.25 in W 5 in D 5 in

Jean Besnard, French Art Deco, Ceramic, Table Lamp, France, 1960s

By Jean Besnard

Located in Stamford, CT

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Gad Aulenti Table Lamp for Artemide

$1,500

H 11.5 in Dm 9 in

Gad Aulenti Table Lamp for Artemide

By Gae Aulenti

Located in Brooklyn, NY

The "Pileino" is a small, versatile table lamp that allows the user to change both light intensity and direction by positioning the shade. Designed by Gae Aulenti for Artemide in 197...

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H 29.14 in W 74.81 in D 24.41 in

Danish Cabinetmaker Frederik Stærmose Sofa Bench in Teakwood & Cane, 1940s

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Cabinet in Brass and Rosewood by Børge Mogensen, 1960s

$44,000

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Cabinet in Brass and Rosewood by Børge Mogensen, 1960s

By Børge Mogensen

Located in Limhamn, Skåne län

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Elegant Fish-Form Silver-Plated Napkin Holders for Luxury Décor

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H 6.3 in W 4.34 in D 1.97 in

Elegant Fish-Form Silver-Plated Napkin Holders for Luxury Décor

Located in Wembley, GB

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Mid-Century Isamu Noguchi Hawkeye Measured Time Clock and Timer

$3,950

H 6 in W 5.5 in D 3.5 in

Mid-Century Isamu Noguchi Hawkeye Measured Time Clock and Timer

By Isamu Noguchi

Located in BROOKLYN, NY

Noguchi's first mass-produced design, completed circa 1932, predating his design for the "Radio Nurse" baby monitor by about five years. Produced by Stevenson Manufacturing...

Category

Vintage 1930s American Mid-Century Modern Table Clocks and Desk Clocks

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Akari Light For Sale on 1stDibs

At 1stDibs, there are many versions of the ideal akari light for your home. Each akari light for sale was constructed with extraordinary care, often using paper, metal and bamboo. Whether you’re looking for an older or newer akari light, there are earlier versions available from the 20th Century and newer variations made as recently as the 21st Century. A akari light, designed in the Mid-Century Modern style, is generally a popular piece of furniture.

How Much is a Akari Light?

The average selling price for a akari light at 1stDibs is $1,185, while they’re typically $355 on the low end and $12,000 for the highest priced.

Isamu Noguchi for sale on 1stDibs

A sculptor, painter, ceramicist and furniture and lighting designer, Isamu Noguchi was one of the most prolific and protean creative forces of the 20th century and a key figure in the development of organic modernism. Noguchi’s sculptures and designs — his chairs and tables as well as his timeless Akari lamp and other lighting fixtures — share a common spirit: one of lyrical abstraction, tempo and flow and harmonious balance.

Noguchi was born in Los Angeles to an American mother and Japanese father, and spent most of his childhood in Japan. He returned to the United States at age 13, went to high school in Indiana and enrolled at Columbia University to study medicine. At the same time, he took night courses in sculpture.

Within three months, Noguchi left college to pursue art full time. Noguchi was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1927 and traveled to Paris to work under Constantin Brancusi. It marked a turning point. Inspired by Brancusi, Noguchi embraced abstraction and began to sculpt in the expressive, rhythmic style that would be the hallmark of his work.

Once back in New York, Noguchi was introduced to design by what would become a lifelong collaboration creating sets for choreographer Martha Graham. His first industrial designs were in Bakelite: the sleek Measured Time kitchen timer created circa 1932, and his famed Zenith Radio Nurse intercom, from 1937.

Ten years later, Herman Miller introduced Noguchi’s now-iconic glass-topped coffee table with an articulated wooden base. His washi paper and bamboo Akari light sculptures, handmade in Japan, debuted in 1951. In the late 1950s, Noguchi designed for Knoll, creating such pieces as his dynamic Cyclone table and rocking stool.

For collectors, Noguchi’s furniture and lighting designs remain his most accessible work — they have the same power and presence that Noguchi brought to his art.

Find vintage Isamu Noguchi floor lamps, table lamps, coffee tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.

A Close Look at Mid-century Modern Furniture

Organically shaped, clean-lined and elegantly simple are three terms that well describe vintage mid-century modern furniture. The style, which emerged primarily in the years following World War II, is characterized by pieces that were conceived and made in an energetic, optimistic spirit by creators who believed that good design was an essential part of good living.

ORIGINS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Emerged during the mid-20th century
Informed by European modernism, Bauhaus, International style, Scandinavian modernism and Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture
A heyday of innovation in postwar America
Experimentation with new ideas, new materials and new forms flourished in Scandinavia, Italy, the former Czechoslovakia and elsewhere in Europe

CHARACTERISTICS OF MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGN

Simplicity, organic forms, clean lines
A blend of neutral and bold Pop art colors
Use of natural and man-made materials — alluring woods such as teak, rosewood and oak; steel, fiberglass and molded plywood
Light-filled spaces with colorful upholstery
Glass walls and an emphasis on the outdoors
Promotion of functionality

MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW

Charles and Ray Eames
Eero Saarinen
Milo Baughman
Florence Knoll
Harry Bertoia
Isamu Noguchi
George Nelson
Danish modernists Hans Wegner and Arne Jacobsen, whose emphasis on natural materials and craftsmanship influenced American designers and vice versa

ICONIC MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE DESIGNS

VINTAGE MID-CENTURY MODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS

The mid-century modern era saw leagues of postwar American architects and designers animated by new ideas and new technology. The lean, functionalist International-style architecture of Le Corbusier and Bauhaus eminences Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius had been promoted in the United States during the 1930s by Philip Johnson and others. New building techniques, such as “post-and-beam” construction, allowed the International-style schemes to be realized on a small scale in open-plan houses with long walls of glass.

Materials developed for wartime use became available for domestic goods and were incorporated into mid-century modern furniture designs. Charles and Ray Eames and Eero Saarinen, who had experimented extensively with molded plywood, eagerly embraced fiberglass for pieces such as the La Chaise and the Womb chair, respectively.

Architect, writer and designer George Nelson created with his team shades for the Bubble lamp using a new translucent polymer skin and, as design director at Herman Miller, recruited the Eameses, Alexander Girard and others for projects at the legendary Michigan furniture manufacturer.

Harry Bertoia and Isamu Noguchi devised chairs and tables built of wire mesh and wire struts. Materials were repurposed too: The Danish-born designer Jens Risom created a line of chairs using surplus parachute straps for webbed seats and backrests.

The Risom lounge chair was among the first pieces of furniture commissioned and produced by celebrated manufacturer Knoll, a chief influencer in the rise of modern design in the United States, thanks to the work of Florence Knoll, the pioneering architect and designer who made the firm a leader in its field. The seating that Knoll created for office spaces — as well as pieces designed by Florence initially for commercial clients — soon became desirable for the home.

As the demand for casual, uncluttered furnishings grew, more mid-century furniture designers caught the spirit.

Classically oriented creators such as Edward Wormley, house designer for Dunbar Inc., offered such pieces as the sinuous Listen to Me chaise; the British expatriate T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings switched gears, creating items such as the tiered, biomorphic Mesa table. There were Young Turks such as Paul McCobb, who designed holistic groups of sleek, blond wood furniture, and Milo Baughman, who espoused a West Coast aesthetic in minimalist teak dining tables and lushly upholstered chairs and sofas with angular steel frames.

Generations turn over, and mid-century modern remains arguably the most popular style going. As the collection of vintage mid-century modern chairs, dressers, coffee tables and other furniture for the living room, dining room, bedroom and elsewhere on 1stDibs demonstrates, this period saw one of the most delightful and dramatic flowerings of creativity in design history.

Finding the Right Lighting for You

The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.

Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.

Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat.

Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.

As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.

There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation.

With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.

The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.