Shiro
Kuramata

Kuramata was born in 1934.
He's one of the most famous members of the Japanese design and architecture.
He studied architecture at the Tokyo Technical College and he was trained as a cabinet maker at the Kuwasawa Institute of Design in Tokyo in 1954. His work merged popular culture, Japanese aesthetic concepts, and the Western avantgarde.

At the end of the 1980s, Kuramata was invited by Ettore Sottsass to be a founding member of the Italian design collaborative Memphis Group. Kuramata was mainly known for his use of industrial materials such as wire steel mesh and plexiglass to create architectural interiors and furniture. Revolutionary pieces such as the "How High the Moon" chair (1986) reflect the emerging dynamism and maturing creativity of postwar Japan, or his Ikebana, lead-free crystal hand blown vase, realized by Collevilca.
Some of his most visually striking interiors were designed for Issey Miyake's boutique shops. He designed multiple sushi restaurants in Tokyo. One of these, the Kiyomoto Sushi Bar, was collected in its entirety by British collector Richard Schlagman. It now sits in the collection of M+ in Hong Kong.