On his first trip to Japan after the Second World War, Noguchi met the industrial designer Kenmochi Isamu, who worked at the Industrial Arts Research Institute in Tokyo, established by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to promote and improve Japanese craft and manufacturing for export. Together, they designed this chair, a perfect expression of Noguchi’s determination to make new objects by developing old technologies. Chairs made from bamboo, wicker, and rattan, often in combination with iron, quickly became a commonplace of design in the mid-twentieth century. Basket Chair stretches the material capabilities of bamboo, and it has become one of the standards of mid-century modernism, despite the fact that it never went into production.
Noguchi for Danh Vo: Counterpoint. M+ Pavilion, Hong Kong, 16 November 2018–22 April 2019