Akari 5AD

Isamu Noguchi liked to say that "to create a home, all you need is a room, a tatami mat and an AKARI".

Akari is a Japanese term meaning clarity and light as well as suggesting the notion of lightness.

Each Akari is handcrafted, beginning with the making of washi paper from the inner bark of the mulberry tree. The paper is then glued and shaped on a supple frame of Higo bamboo ribbing, creating a delicate but powerful lighting sculpture.

The soft and warm glow of light casting through the paper transforms “the harshness of electricity back to the light of our origins – the sun – so that its warmth may continue to fill our rooms at night” as explained by Noguchi himself.