Akari Table Lamp Model "UF1-H"
Manufactured by Ozeki & Co., Ltd.
Japan, 1984
Washi paper, bamboo and steel wire

Measurements
20 × 20 × 51h cm
7,9 × 7,9 × 20,1h in

Provenance
Private collection, Japan

Literature
NEW Akari Light Sculpture, Ozeki & Co., Gifu, 1977.
Catalog of Latest Akari, Ozeki & Co., Gifu, 1988.
Bonnie Rychlak, Dakin Hart, Mutsuko Mori, Masayo Murayama and Kengo Matsumoto, Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, 2022.
Dore Ashton, Noguchi East and West, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1992.

About
The UF1-H belongs to Isamu Noguchi's celebrated Akari series, a body of work that redefined the traditional Japanese paper lantern as a modern sculptural object. Characterized by its softly rounded silhouette and distinctive black painted detailing, the model demonstrates Noguchi's remarkable ability to transform light into an architectural and atmospheric presence.
Handcrafted in Gifu by Ozeki & Co., the lamp is made from handmade washi paper stretched over a delicate bamboo and steel wire framework using techniques perfected by generations of Japanese lantern makers. The thin structure allows the paper to diffuse light with exceptional softness, producing the warm and inviting illumination that became the defining quality of the Akari Light Sculptures.
Created as part of Noguchi's lifelong exploration of the relationship between sculpture and everyday life, the UF1-H embodies the simplicity, material honesty, and quiet elegance that characterize his work. More than a functional table lamp, it is conceived as a "light sculpture"—an object in which craftsmanship, tradition, and modern design merge into a timeless expression of form and light.

Biography
Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was one of the most important and intellectually ambitious artists of the twentieth century, whose work moved fluidly between sculpture, architecture, landscape, furniture, and industrial design. Born in Los Angeles to the Japanese poet Yone Noguchi and the American writer Leonie Gilmour, he grew up between the United States and Japan, an experience that profoundly shaped his artistic vision. Noguchi never accepted the division between East and West, art and utility, or sculpture and design; instead, he sought to create a unified visual language capable of shaping how people live, move, and experience space.
Noguchi's early artistic formation took place in New York, where he studied at Columbia University before training as a sculptor. In 1927 he traveled to Paris on a Guggenheim Fellowship to apprentice with Constantin Brancusi, an experience that proved decisive for his understanding of form and abstraction. Throughout his life he expanded sculpture beyond conventional limits, creating furniture, stage sets, landscapes, and environments that redefined the role of design in daily life.
His Akari Light Sculptures, begun in 1951, remain among his most influential creations and continue to embody his lifelong pursuit of harmony between tradition, technology, material, and human experience.