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SEM-Art Gallery
KURAMATA Shiro (1934 – 1991) graduated from the Kuwasawa Design institute in 1956 and began his career as a designer of interiors and boutique window displays. in 1965 he founded the Kuramata Design Office and shaped an international culture in which contemporary art and architecture and design played an important part. At the crossover between art and design, his creations are marked by humour, poetry, lightness, transparency and minimalism. Kuramata’s work was brought to Europe through his collaboration with Issey Miyake and his encounter with Ettore Sottsass who invited him to join the Memphis Group back in 1981. His work includes as many one-off pieces as small artisan series and editions. Following his death, a major retrospective toured international galleries and exhibited at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris in 1998.
Selected Public Collections:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
SF MoMA, San Francisco, CA
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France
Museum fur Angewandte kunst, Mak Vienna, Austria
Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal, Canada
Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan