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Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Noguchi and Kenmochi: The bamboo basket chair

In 1950 Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) made his first trip to Japan following World War II. There he met Japanese industrial designer Isamu Kenmochi (1912-1971). Noguchi became interested in Kenmochi's bamboo basket weaving after seeing this chair.


Rattan basket weave chair by Isamu Kenmochi
nytimes.com


Noguchi came up with a few ideas to incorporate Kenmochi's technique, and the bamboo basket chair emerged from a brief collaboration between the two. The chair uses Kenmochi's basket-weaving plans for the seat and back rest, while Noguchi provided the idea for the base, a looping iron rod similar to that of the Hardoy butterfly chair.


Bamboo basket chair by Noguchi and Kenmochi
nytimes.com


Unfortunately, the chair was never manufactured, and the prototype was lost. However, a copy of the chair was made for the Noguchi Museum using old photographs of the original.



Isamu Noguchi (l) and Isamu Kenmochi (r)
nytimes.com
From nytimes.com

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