Akari Table Lamp Model "3X"
Manufactured by Ozeki & Co., Ltd.
Japan, 1961
Washi paper, bamboo, enameled steel, rubber

Measurements
23 × 23 × 37h cm
9 × 9 × 14,5h 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
Designed around 1961, the Akari 3X is one of the most refined table lamps within Isamu Noguchi's celebrated Akari Light Sculptures. Its compact proportions and softly rounded volume demonstrate Noguchi's ability to reduce form to its essential elements while creating an object of remarkable sculptural presence.
Handcrafted in Gifu by Ozeki & Co., the lamp is constructed from handmade washi paper stretched over a delicate bamboo framework supported by an enameled steel structure with rubber feet. The translucent paper gently filters the electric light, producing the warm, diffuse glow that became the defining characteristic of the Akari series. Through this transformation, Noguchi sought to restore the softness and humanity of traditional lantern light within the modern interior.
The restrained geometry of the 3X exemplifies Noguchi's lifelong dialogue between Japanese craftsmanship and modern sculpture. Devoid of ornament, the lamp relies on proportion, material, and light to create an atmosphere of quiet elegance. More than a functional lighting object, it embodies Noguchi's conviction that sculpture could become an integral part of everyday life, enriching domestic space through simplicity, craftsmanship, and the poetic qualities of 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.