Interlude - Ruth Asawa [1926-2013]

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Following a stretch at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the Ruth Asawa Retrospective exhibit moves on to the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) from October 19, 2025 – Feb. 7, 2026. However, two of her best known public works, The Ghirardelli Square Fountain and the Grand Hyatt Hotel Fountain, remain in San Francisco,  California. The city* where she lived and worked all her life as an artist and community activist, raising six children with her husband, Albert Lanier, an architect.  

Best known for her suspended, knotted-wire sculptures that transparently defy gravity, and whose shadows are as interesting as the interconnected geometry of the pieces, Asawa’s commissioned San Francisco work was initially quite controversial. Indeed, the Ghirardelli Square Fountain depicts  two mermaids, one of which is breast-feeding her infant mermaid. The sculpture is named Andrea's Fountain, after one of Asawa's friends who was nursing at the time, and whose body she cast in plaster, to then better sculpt in wax, before casting in bronze. The fountain includes whimsical frogs that Asawa's own children also sculpted. The fountain was installed during the night to bypass conflict with the landscape architect who designed the square, and who wanted a more 'abstract' fountain design.  

Criticized as alternatively too decorative or too domestic, Asawa was also targeted for being Japanese-American, female, and from San Francisco, far from the East coast establishment. Nonetheless, Asawa was an enormously productive artist, and a beloved community activist in San Francisco. She found her voice, and her art work endured, celebrated both during her life time, and now posthumously. 

Below, an image of the landmark San Francisco Ghirardelli Square Andrea's Fountain, commissioned in 1968.  

Note

*Asawa and her husband chose to live in San Francisco, a city that would generously welcome her Japanese ancestry and bi-racial marriage. This choice came after forced internment in a barn at the Santa Anita Racetrack, at age 16 during world war II, together with thousands of other undesired people of Japanese descent, living in the United States. Despite the hardship, Asawa is said to have made the most of her internment, choosing to study painting for more than six hours a day under the supervision of Japanese Disney animators, who were also interned. In particular, she studied with Tom Okamoto, a landscape artist. Studying art contrasted with the farm work she had always performed with her family, and it confirmed her artistic talent. In Asawa's own words, regarding her internment: 

"I hold no hostilities for what happened; I blame no one. Sometimes good comes through adversity. I would not be who I am today had it not been for the Internment, and I like who I am."

References

Ruth Asawa

https://ruthasawa.com

https://ruthasawa.com/life/ (time line)

SFMOMA

https://www.sfmoma.org/visit/

NYC MOMA

https://www.moma.org

Oh, patents! Noguchi playground module

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Among fountains, gardens, courtyards and civic spaces, Isamu Noguchi also designed public playgrounds, sometimes called playscapes. He also designed playground modules to include in public spaces. For example, Noguchi designed playground modules, using tetrahedrons. Pyramid shapes, which he hollowed out, and truncated at the four apexes, so that the modules could be stacked and combined to form play structures that he called labyrinths.

Noguchi’s tetrahedron playground module is a patented invention. The US utility patent, US3666266, titled Playground Module, was awarded on May 30th, 1972, to Isamu Noguchi. 

In comparison to traditional playground structures, modeled on military boot camp equipment, the patent recites an invention striving to offer a playscape. In other words, a playground design that is architecturally interesting, aesthetically pleasing, and multifunctional. Based on the observation that children naturally liked to climb up to widen the horizon of what they can see, and that they also liked to burrow, exploring hidden places and mazes, Noguchi’s playground modules offer structures with circular ports. Ports that may be used both as steps for climbing up from one module to another, and as entrances for crawling in, from one module into another. The selected tetrahedron shape, truncated and hollowed out, then forms an octahedron, with four smaller triangular planes and four hexagonal surfaces, lending themselves perfectly to stacking into tiers, and/or for side by side interconnection to form tunnels.

The patent Figure 1 depicts a perspective view of one playground module, comprising one equilateral truncated tetrahedron. Thus, the four large surfaces 10, 11, 12 and 13 are hexagonal, whereas the four smaller surfaces 14, 15, 16, and 17 (hidden), are triangular. Additionally, the larger surfaces 10, 11, 12 and 13 are each respectively parallel to the smaller surfaces 14, 15, 16 and 17 (hidden). And all the edges of the structure are chamfered to avoid sharp edges. 

A central cavity C is further hollowed out spherically so that the interior surface is completely edge-free. Access to the central spherical cavity C is enabled through a port 10C on the large surface 10. Likewise access to the central spherical cavity C is enabled through the ports 11C, 12C and 13C, respectively on the remaining four large surfaces 11, 12 and 13.

The modules can then be assembled with recessed bolts into various play structures, using two or more modules, as shown below for the red, two-tier play structure.

The abstract of the invention appears below. 

A structural module which lends itself to the construction of playground edifices for climbing and crawling. The module is in the form of a tetrahedron whose four corners are truncated to define four triangular minor faces that are disposed in parallel relation to four major hexagonal faces, the module having a spherical central cavity. The radius of the sphere is greater than the distance between the geometrical center of the module and any major face thereof, circular ports in the major faces of the module being formed by the intersection of the spherical cavity and the major faces. A group of such modules may be interfitted in various ways, side by side as well as one above the other, to create an edifice in which one major face of each module abuts a major face of an adjacent module and in which the ports of the abutting faces are in registration, thereby interconnecting the cavities of the modules to produce a labyrinth. [Abstract US3666266]

References
Isamu Noguchi
www.Noguchi.org 
Noguchi playscapes
https://www.grimshaw.foundation/stories/noguchi-s-playscapes

Oh, patents! Noguchi's Cyclone™ table

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Isamu Noguchi’s Cyclone™ table was directly inspired by his Rocking stool. Designed for Knoll, the table was produced in varying sizes with veneer core plywood and high-pressure laminate top, mounted on a base of steel wires, and set into a cast iron foot.  

The design of the Cyclone™ table was patented. The US design patent, USD182037S, titled Table or the like, was awarded on February 4th, 1958, to Isamu Noguchi. The patent Figure 1, depicting a perspective view of the table, is included below. An image of a marketed embodiment of the Cyclone™ table with a white laminate top, is also shown beneath. 

As a reminder, a US design patent covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or how the invention looks. In contrast, a US utility patent covers how an invention works, or is produced.

Reference
The Noguchi Museum (The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, in Long Island City, NY.)
www.noguchi.org

Knoll Cyclone™ dining table

https://www.knoll.com/design-plan/product/cyclone-dining-table?section=design

Oh, patents! Noguchi's Rocking stool

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Isamu Noguchi’s Rocking stool, designed for the Swiss furniture company Vitra in the 1950s, was re-issued by the American furniture company Knoll, from 2001 to 2009. The stool was manufactured in two sizes, low and high, made of maple on top and chrome-plated steel rods. The stool rocks gently as the base is cambered. 

The Noguchi Rocking stool design is patented. The US design patent, USD182038, titled Stool, was awarded on February 4,1958, to Isamu Noguchi. As a reminder, a US design patent only covers the ornamental aspects of an invention, or the way the invention looks. In contrast, a US utility patent covers the way an invention works and/or is produced. 

The patent Figure 1 show a perspective view of the inventive design. An early advertisement of the rocking stool is also included.

References
Knoll (company website)
www.knoll.com 
The Noguchi Museum (The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Long Island City, NY.)
https://www.noguchi.org/
Vitra (company website)
www.vitra.com

Oh, Noguchi! Akari sculpture production process

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The YouTube video  below shows the internal wooden frames used to make one version of the many different Akari sculptures. The sculptures were produced at the Ozeki Jishichi Shoten (later Ozeki & Co., Ltd.), founded in 1891. A company that partnered with Isamu Noguchi to manufacture his Akari sculptures. The video also shows the stringing of bamboo ribbing onto the frames, and then the traditional art of hari (attaching paper) onto the ribbing. Both processes shown were invoked in ancient Japanese lantern-making and used for producing Noguchi’s Akari sculptures. The video concludes with images of several different Akari sculptures that Isamu Noguchi designed. 

In showing the Akari sculpture production process, this YouTube video is consonant with Isamu Noguchi words (2021): 

“I like to show the making of a thing. …A thing that continues to be made as a person looks at it.”

(1951) - Production of Akari light sculptures

https://youtu.be/hQ8SbDJ7Cck 

Reference

Noguchi in his own words. (Nov. 22, 2021). YouTube video. [04:26]. Barbican Center, London, UK. 

https://youtu.be/IbcleKnGEMU

Oh, patents! Isamu Noguchi Akari (sculpture) lamps

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The famous and prolific Japanese American sculptor, Isamu Noguchi [1904-1988], created a series of lamps that he called Akari sculptures. A series of sculptures that would bring together traditional Japanese craftsmanship with Western modernism, in new functional ways of lighting. The Japanese term “akari” means light with associations similar to English that include both “illumination” and “weightlessness”.

Noguchi’s light sculptures were consistent with his belief that art should be made accessible for everyone to enjoy. In Noguchi’s own words (2021): 

“...The Akari lamps for instance were partly motivated by wanting to have my art in everybody’s home. The smallest can be got for less than 10$. And I think they are as much an expression of myself as anything else I do.”

The functional aspects of Noguchi's Akari sculptures were patented inventions. For example, among several Akari lamp patents awarded to Isamu Noguchi, the US utility patent US2781444, titled Lamp construction, was granted on February 12th, 1957. The patent recites the means to mount an electric bulb onto a Japanese lantern-type lamp, with a scope extending to floor, table, ceiling, wall or bed lamps. Thus, the new patented electric design seeks both to modernize and to preserve the simplicity and compactness of traditional Japanese, candle- or oil powered lanterns. Lanterns that were also made to collapse flat, so they might be shipped in envelopes. As a result, the invention comprises rapid assembly and disassembly, lightness for storage and shipment, also built into every aspect of the new electrical mounting. 

The patent Figure 2 below depicts a side elevation view of the lamp construction. The construction comprises a distensible lampshade 24. The lampshade 24 is secured above by a reduced section 36, resulting from the symmetrical convergence 55 of the vertical, upside-down U-shaped frame 22. A “spider” frame 23, attached to the lowest lampshade ring 49, further secures the lower end of the lampshade 24. Inside the vertical, upside-down U-shaped frame 22, a bulb 21 is mounted on a socket 20. The socket 20, slips through an opening, at the lower curved end 38 of the vertical, upside-down U-shaped frame 22. 

An image of a marketed floor lamp embodiment of the invention is included below the patent Figure 2, as well as the open "pizza box" conditioning for the compact Akari floor lamp 5A and its assembly. 

Akari 5A with box and elements (designed 1952)

References

The Noguchi Museum (The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum, in Long Island City, NY.)

www.noguchi.org

Noguchi in his own words. (Nov. 22, 2021). YouTube video [04:26]. Barbican Center, London, UK. 

https://youtu.be/IbcleKnGEMU

Oh, patents! Roche Bobois™ vintage coffee table

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The timeless Roche Bobois™* marble sphere and square glass coffee table is an invention that was patented in Spain. The invention was granted the Spanish utility patent, ES294084, titled Mesa, in Spanish (meaning “table” in English). No other patent family members were filed. As a result, the only official version of the patent is in Spanish. The patent was granted on September 1st, 1986. The applicant was Roche Bobois Espana S. A. The company’s legal representative was Don Ignacio Ponti Grau. The inventor is unspecified. 

According to the specification of the disclosure, the marble sphere and square glass coffee table invention was intended to resolve the complexity invoked in the design of prior art coffee tables and to reduce associated production and lead time costs. A prior art that required several parts and processes (i.e., table top and table legs, plus tools and means to connect the table top to the table legs, using such items as srews, staples, braces, or soldering).

The patent Figure 2, included below, illustrates the simplicity of the invention that does not necessitate small parts and associated tools for fabrication. A sloped plate 1, advantageously made of thick glass, has a lower edge 2 covered with protective grips 3 to prevent the sloped glass 1 from contacting the floor 4. An opening 5 on the sloped plate 1 is designed to accommodate the sphere 6. The upper edge 9 of the sloped plate 1, and the top of the sphere 6, both at the same level, are secured to the tabletop plate 10, with a slip-resistant compound 7. The slip-resistant compound 7 also secures the sphere 8, contacting the floor 4, to the sloped plate 1.

An image of the marketed marble sphere and square glass Roche Bobois™ coffee table is included below the patent Figure 2. The scope of the invention extends to other materials that might be used for fabrication.

-----
* Roche Bobois™ is a French, luxury, home furnishing company; an international leader presenting collections that result from collaborations with renowned European designers and architects.

Reference

Roche Bobois™ (website)

https://www.roche-bobois.com/en-US/