Designer

Isamu Noguchi

Isamu Noguchi was one of the 20th century’s most important and critically acclaimed sculptors, with an illustrious career that spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Through a lifetime of artistic experimentation and extensive travel, Noguchi created everything from sculpture, furniture and lighting to ceramics, architecture and set designs.

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One of the most renowned creative talents of recent years, Noguchi’s work is celebrated as simultaneously subtle and bold, traditional and modern - setting a new standard for the reintegration of the arts. Curious and well-travelled, Noguchi discovered and was deeply affected by Mexico's impactful large scale public works, Japan's earthy ceramics and tranquil gardens, ink-brush techniques from China and the purity of Italian marble. Each of these inspirations have informed his work and use of materials, which includes metals such as stainless steel, iron, bronze, aluminium alongside granite and water.

Born in 1904 in Los Angeles, Noguchi experienced many moves whilst growing up, living in Japan until he was thirteen, then leaving the country and his mother to start school in Indiana. He began his studies in pre-medicine at Columbia University in 1923, and was encouraged by his mother, Leonie, to take evening courses in sculpture in 1924. It was then, on New York's Lower East Side under sculpting tutor Onoriio Ruotolo that he discovered his passion, and left university to become an academic sculptor.