Akari Lights

"The light of Akari is like the light of the sun filtered through the paper of shoji. The harshness of electricity is thus transformed through the magic of paper back to the light of our origin - the sun - so that ist warmth may continue to fill our rooms at night." (Isamu Noguchi)

In 1951, American/Japanese artist and designer Isamu Noguchi started to design the Akari Light Sculptures, a total of over 100 hand-made Shoji-paper models for table lights, standard lamps or ceiling luminaires. For the name of this lighting series he chose the word "akari", the Japanese terms for brightness and light, and also lightness. Collection Vitra Design Museum.