Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 6

Shiro Kuramata KYOTO Round Table for MEMPHIS srl

About the Item

Kyoto round table (1983) Shiro Kuramata (Japan) / Memphis Milano Round end table in metal and colored-glass-infused "Star Piece" terrazzo Dimensions: Ø 23.75", height: 28.5". The Japanese so often just seem to get it right. Until the late 20th century, the distinctions between painting, sculpture, craft and decorative art were all part of a single continuum (it was only in the West that painting and sculpture were distinguished as purer and more important than the decorative arts). In Japan, craft and hermetical skills were considered the apex on the aesthetic scale of notability. Functionality (however abstract the method of presenting it) was paramount. No where in recent times has this become more evident than in the design oeuvre of Shiro Kuramata. Japan’s leading 20th century designer of furniture and interiors, he was born in Tokyo between the wars. Coming of age during the post-WWII American Occupation of Japan, he graduated in 1957 from the special polytechnic Kuwazawa Design Institute, where he studied Western Design, Japanese woodcraft and the plastic arts. Included in this curriculum was the study of furniture such as chairs, ironical, since most of the Japanese public still maintained traditional homes where they sat on the floor on tatami mats. In 1957 Kuramata was hired by the San-Ai department store, where he made his mark as a designer of virtuoso showcase vignettes as well as floor and window displays. Thereafter, he opened his own design office in Tokyo in 1965. This coming of age for the artist occurred during a particularly fervent period of Japanese technical ingenuity and dramatic economic growth that fueled the development of VCR’s, the Sony Walk-Man, subcompact cars, portable TV’s, video games et al. It was the time of the emergence of such contemporaries as Arata Isozaki, Tadao Ando and fashion designers Rei Kawakubo (Comme des Garcons), Issey Miyake (his biggest client) and Yohji Yamamoto. Kuramata’s greatest gift to design at that time was his combination of Western Pop, Minimalist and Conceptual Art influences (Flavin, Judd, Duchamp, Buren) comingled with the Japanese notion of the “oneness” of Arts & Crafts, both high and low. He was especially moved & influenced by the works and theories of the Italian furniture designer Ettore Sottsass and his playful usage of bright, intense colours & gawky, purposely awkward forms. Kuramata was soon asked to join the experimental design group Memphis, incepted by Sottsass and based in Milan, at its founding in 1981. In his pared-down & fantastic forms, Kuramata turned the viewers’ expectations inside-out & upside-down, conjuring up objects & physical spaces that were radical & yet extremely functional. His ability to transform industrial materials (perforated stainless steel, chains, terrazzo, Lucite, glass) into shimmering objects of desire still provokes endless dialogue amongst critics and supporters alike. Specifically, Kuramata was once commissioned in the 1980’s by his stalwart patron Issey Miyake to design his in-store boutique at Bergdorf Goodman in NYC. Simple L-shaped 20 ft. x 6 ft. shelves of thin stainless steel (cut from single sheets, so as to avoid weld joints) hovered above a poured-in-place terrazzo floor of creamy yellow cement & tiny shards of emerald-colored glass. This writer, visiting NYC with a group of friends at the time, dropped to his knees on the floor during a very busy Saturday retail hour to investigate Kuramata’s solitary usage of green glass (typically terrazzo is made up of multi-coloured marble chips as the aggregate). Within seconds, I discovered the reason for the enigma. Calling over to my friends as well as the store’s dumbfounded customers -- “Look! I can see it! The broken glass pieces, they have words on them! C – o – c – a C – o – l – a !!! My God --- it’s Kuramata’s homage to America!” Obsession has its rewards!
  • Creator:
    Shiro Kuramata (Designer)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 29 in (73.66 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 24 in (60.96 cm)
  • Style:
    Post-Modern (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    2021
  • Production Type:
    New & Custom(Current Production)
  • Estimated Production Time:
    6-7 weeks
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1539212008113
More From This SellerView All
  • Shiro Kuramata Nara Square Terrazzo Table for Memphis Srl
    By Shiro Kuramata
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    Nara square table, (1983). Shiro Kuramata (Japan) / Memphis Milano. Square end or coffee table in metal and colored-glass-infused "Star Piece" terrazzo. Dimensions: W 23.75" x D ...
    Category

    2010s Italian Post-Modern Coffee and Cocktail Tables

    Materials

    Terrazzo

  • Michele De Lucchi Polar Side Table for Memphis Srl
    By Michele de Lucchi
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    Another quirky anthropomorphic table by Michele De Lucchi, early Memphis trailblazer (looks a little like "Mickey", don't it??). When you thin...
    Category

    2010s Italian Post-Modern End Tables

    Materials

    Wood, Laminate

  • Michele De Lucchi KRISTALL Side Table for MEMPHIS srl
    By Michele de Lucchi
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    From the inaugural 1981 Memphis collection, this very popular design by Michele De Lucchi (one of the founding members of the design collective) implement...
    Category

    2010s Italian Post-Modern Side Tables

    Materials

    Metal

  • Two "Imperial" Cabinets by Shiro Kuramata
    By Shiro Kuramata
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    The notion of the container and the secrecy that can abound from it was an important preoccupation for the stellar Japanese designer Shiro Kuramata --- perhaps because he grew out of...
    Category

    Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Cabinets

    Materials

    Wood, Lacquer

  • Ettore Sottsass ASHOKA Table Lamp for MEMPHIS srl
    By Ettore Sottsass
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    The Ashoka table lamp is an early Ettore Sottsass lighting masterwork for the introductory 1981 MEMPHIS collection as iconoclastic a light/sculpture as yo...
    Category

    Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Table Lamps

    Materials

    Metal

  • Ettore Sottsass DIVA Mirror for Memphis Srl
    By Ettore Sottsass
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    No one but Ettore Sottsass could've designed such an elegant mirror -- an homage to his love of the human psyche, "reflected" in its inner & outer beauty. Quasi-deco in manner, ye...
    Category

    Vintage 1980s Italian Post-Modern Wall Mirrors

    Materials

    Mirror, Laminate

You May Also Like
  • Kyoto Metal and Terrazo End Table, by Shiro Kuramata for Memphis Milano Collect.
    By Memphis Milano, Shiro Kuramata, Memphis Group
    Located in La Morra, Cuneo
    Kyoto end table in metal and terrazzo, designed in 1983 by Shiro Kuramata. Shiro Kuramata studied architecture at Tokyo Polytechnic in Tokyo unti...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern End Tables

    Materials

    Metal

  • Sally Coffee Table by Shiro Kuramata for Memphis Milano
    By Memphis Milano, Shiro Kuramata
    Located in Milano, MI
    This metal and glass coffee table was made by Shiro Kuramata in 1987 for the Memphis Group. Ideal in any ampiente. The product is accompanied by the certificate of authenticity and ...
    Category

    Antique 1680s Center Tables

    Materials

    Metal

  • Nara Serving Table, by Shiro Kuramata for Memphis Milano Collection
    By Shiro Kuramata, Memphis Group
    Located in La Morra, Cuneo
    Shiro Kuramata 1983 Service table made with the traditional technique of terrazzo in concrete conglomerate and coloured glass. Nara perfectly combines the Japanese aesthetic traditi...
    Category

    2010s Italian Serving Tables

    Materials

    Concrete

  • HAL1 Table Shiro Kuramata
    By Shiro Kuramata
    Located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
    HAL1 table designed by Shiro Kuramata for Cassina Interdecor in 1988. Unique steel legs and white painted Oriented strand board.
    Category

    Vintage 1980s Japanese Post-Modern Dining Room Tables

    Materials

    Steel

  • Memphis Table By Shiro Kuramata Sally Glass Chrome Rolling Table, 1987
    By Shiro Kuramata, Memphis Group
    Located in Vienna, AT
    Round rolling table sally by Shiro Kuramata for Memphis, 1987 Dimensions are 30.31" x 23.35" x 23.35" Iconic table 'Sally' by Shiro Kuramata, Japan, 1987 for Memphis. Comprised of ...
    Category

    Vintage 1980s Japanese Post-Modern Side Tables

    Materials

    Metal, Chrome

  • GLASS TABLE 1976, by Shiro Kuramata for Glas Italia
    By Glas Italia, Shiro Kuramata
    Located in Macherio, IT
    Shown here is the glass table 1976. The low table characterised by the very refined minimal aspect with feet in mm. 24 thick transparent glass, thermo-welded to the top in mm. 12 thi...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Tables

    Materials

    Glass

Recently Viewed

View All