The lamps are made of washi paper and bamboo, and have been popular since the 1950s. Akari means "light" (both "illumination" and "weightlessness") in Japanese, and the lamps are a modern version of traditional Japanese lanterns. There are over 200[1] Akari iterations in different shapes, sizes and colors.
Isamu Noguchi was born to a Japanese father and American mother, and was raised by his mother in the United States and Japan.[3] He was a well-respected sculptor and artist by the late 1940s, but he struggled financially.[3]
On a trip to Japan in 1951, Noguchi visited Gifu, a town that specialized in making traditional paper lanterns.[4] The mayor of Gifu approached Noguchi and asked him to modernize the lanterns, which were growing obsolete with the rise of electricity.[5] Noguchi did so by redesigning the lamps to use light bulbs rather than candles, and using wire to make the shapes more sculptural.[6]
Noguchi viewed his new lanterns as works of art, rather than simple light sources, and called them Akari light sculptures.[7] They could be easily folded and shipped, and were an immediate success in Japan and worldwide.[1]
The lamps are still handmade in Gifu by the original manufacturer, Ozeki & Co.[8]
Akari lamps are handmade in Gifu using Mino washi paper and bamboo. The warm patina of the paper and the lamps' "idiosyncratically sculptural shapes" make them difficult to replicate.[9] To emulate the warm glow of high-end lanterns like Akari, some people dye white lanterns with tea.[10]
The lanterns come in a variety of shapes, from round or rectangular to resembling a banana or a television set.[11]
Reception
Akari lamps have been popular since their advent, and The Strategist called them a "shorthand for taste but not flashiness".[12]
Fans of Akari include painter Georgia O'Keefe[13] who had an Akari pendant lamp in her New Mexico home and filmmaker Mira Nair, who said in a 2002 The New York Times profile that she owned seven Akari lamps.[14]
A 2021 article by The Strategist profiled 41 Akari owners with photos of the lamps styled in their homes. The owners praised the lamps' coziness and simplicity.[12]
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