Ingo Maurer and Dagmar Mombach.
Gaku Table lamp. 1998
Steel and paper,
h. 37 1/3"
(h. 95 cm)
Manufactured by Ingo Maurer GmbH
Lent by Ingo Maurer GmbH.
Photo: Tom Vack, courtesy Ingo Maurer

Gaku comes from the MaMo Nouchies series of paper lamps. Maurer's long-standing interest in materials and his passion for paper are combined with his admiration for Japanese art. With the MaMo Nouchies, Maurer and Dagmar Mombach, who developed the technique for transforming the paper, pay homage to Isamu Noguchi, whose ideas were based on the traditional Japanese craft of akari. The name of the series comes from the first two letters of Maurer's and Mombach's last names, along with Nouchies, a pun on Noguchi. The lamps are named after ancient tribal spirits from all over the world.

Mombach's technique, all performed by hand according to the Japanese tradition, involves the manipulation of plain sheets of paper, by pulling and folding. Often up to eight separate treatments are needed to create the desired effect.

© 1998 The Museum of Modern Art, New York