21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, that continues to propose design as culture that brings joy to life, will be holding the exhibition “SHIRO KURAMATA and ETTORE SOTTSASS” from Feb. 2nd, 2011.
Japan’s leading designer Shiro Kuramata (Nov. 29th, 1934 ~ Feb. 1st, 1991) and master of Italian design Ettore Sottsass (Sep. 14th, 1917 ~ Dec. 31st, 2007). The exchange between the two designers started with the 1981 “Memphis”(*1) collective that brought groundbreaking impact on the design world. The two, constrained by modernism, spoke through the language of design; Sottsass, with his background in Western European ideology, and Kuramata, with his Japanese aesthetics. The two dreamt together, sought beauty, cultivated a friendship, and never ceased to explore the possibilities of creation. Though different in expression, they together outshined functionality and convenience in pursuit of design that brings joy and a sense of surprise to life.
The exhibition features approximately 60 pieces of transparent and precious works created by Shiro Kuramata in the 10-year span from 1981, and approximately 20 never-seen-before art pieces based on Ettore Sottsass’s drawings created in his final years, inspired by the Native American doll, “KACHINA.” The meaning of design and making things is entering a phase of drastic transformation as the world demands us to reconsider the excessive commercialism and materialism that surround us. Please experience and enjoy a new encounter with spirited “design” of boundless freedom, found through the works of these two designers and their endless dreams and love.
(*1) A design collective led by Ettore Sottsass and formed by young designers and architects in 1980 when postwar high economic growth came to a pause. In 1981, the group held the first “Memphis” exhibition which created a great sensation, influencing architecture and design of the late 80’s.
Planning: Issey Miyake / Exhibition Director: Yasuko Seki / Planning Associates: Mieko Kuramata, Barbara Radice Sottsass, Takao Ishimaru, Tomohiko Mihoya, Mitsumasa Fujitsuka / Exhibition Space Design: Yasuo Kondo, Hisae Igarashi / Graphic Design: Tamotsu Yagi / Copy Writing: Shinzo Higurashi
Message
When we begun working in early 1960s, Japan was at the height of its post-WWII economic recovery. Kuramata was a heroic presence to me, even within a group comprised of so many formidable talents. His use of materials, for example: no matter what it was, he transformed it into an attractive design that we had never seen before. We all deeply respected Kuramata both in terms of his work and as a person. Japanese design is tight and rational, and has no unnecessary elements. But Kuramata’s work was filled with mystery; a world that we are not ordinarily capable of expressing. My work might have been different had I never met him.
I met Sottsass in Paris in the 1960s during the Olivetti exhibition at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, in Paris. Sottsass was as naturally a gifted artist as he was an architect, designer, poet, and photographer. He was also a producer who led design movements such as Memphis, and an editor who directed the magazine TERAZZO. He told me that feeling and touch are most important elements in design, despite the fact that people tend to act using their brains. I initiated this exhibition to introduce a new generation of designers to the designs of both Shiro Kuramata, whose aesthetic transcended space and time; and Ettore Sottsass, by whom Kuramata was influenced.
(Excerpted and recomposed from the Exhibition Book)
- Issey Miyake
At our first meeting, I felt as though Mr. Miyake delivered us three messages regarding this exhibition. “Not Period.” In other words, he did not want to make this a simple retrospective. Our mission was to communicate the importance of dreams and love in design. Especially to the younger generation who are strangers to these two artists…
We live in a generation that is far different from the times in which they lived. In particular, the 1980’s, the generation when the two men cultivated their friendship, was a golden age for the Japanese economy which thrived in being “Japan as number one,” and a time in which the Japanese people backed by the economic momentum started shifting their eyes to quality of life and design. 30 years since then, the expansion of IT and the Internet, as well as the lessons learnt from globalism and commercialism prompts us to reconsider once again, “What is design?”
The exhibition reveals the great creators and their design in their true colors, told through their works, past footage, quotes, and slide shows. Please experience the world of bountiful dreams and love created by the two men and take the opportunity to think again about the meaning of design.
- Yasuko Seki (Exhibition Director)
About the artists
“Ever since meeting Sottsass, I have come to believe in a certain calling. A calling to cut loose function from practicality and to communicate the true unity of beauty and practicality in design. That the essential joy of design must outshine its functionality…”
<JARDIN DES MODES> 1990
“Shiro was a friend, he was like a brother, and he was a man that I could trust with all my heart. He was a man that made you feel as though we were traveling together on a long journey. …He strove to express something more fragile while I strove to create something more heavy and solid.”
(“SHITSUNAI” 1991)
