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