Sitting at the taller end of the Akari Light Sculpture spectrum at 1.6 meters, the Vitra Akari 33N Suspension Light creates an impressive, formidable presence. Handmade in Gifu, Japan, a district world-famous for its association with the production of paper lanterns, the Akari range is handmade using the same techniques that have been in action for generations, with the resulting pieces one of the most familiar and popular in all of the design world.
The Akari 33N Suspension Light is ideal for creating a stunning impact when hung high in a hallway, up a stairwell or in a bedroom.
Isamu Noguchi was an American-Japanese designer who originally trained as a sculptor and brought a sculptural sensibility to everything he created: lighting, furniture, gardens and stage sets. He studied sculpture, after dropping out of medical school, in late 1920s New York and then in Paris as an assistant to Constantin Brancusi.
Noguchi designed a range of paper Akari lights throughout the 1950s and 1960s, alongside the popular organic furniture he made in curvy sculpted wood now part of the Vitra Collection, such as the Freeform Sofa and Coffee Table. He was equally prolific as a landscape architect; he recreated the ancient Buddhist stone gardens he had loved in Kyoto at Lever House in New York (1951), UNESCO in Paris (1951), the Yale campus (1960) and Jerusalem’s Israel Museum (1960).
