Shiro Kuramata

Armchair

1976

Laminated glass

Not on view

These two chairs, designed twelve years apart, display Kuramata’s explorations of transparency in different materials—the first is made of glass, and the second, acrylic. With its sleek, refined lines, the glass-made Armchair was inspired by the futuristic atmosphere of Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The Miss Blanche Chair similarly draws on an American cultural reference. Named after the main heroine of Tennessee Williams’s 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire, the chair comprises acrylic resin panels that contain artificial red roses and rests on purple anodized aluminum legs. The floating flowers are an exquisite but rare instance in Kuramata’s work in which figurative elements are combined with abstract forms.

Gallery label from

2023

Manufacturer Mihoya Glass Co. Ltd, Japan
Medium Laminated glass
Dimensions 35 1/2 × 35 7/16 × 23 5/8" (90.2 × 90 × 60 cm)
Credit Gift of Ronald and Jo Carole Lauder Foundation
Object number 164.2012
Department Architecture & Design

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