What to Hang When Even A Noguchi Lantern Isn't Big Enough

"First things first. Isamu Noguchi Akari light sculptures belong in the pantheon of perennial design treasures. Elegant, quiet, unimpeachable. Always appropriate, never démodé. They have also become something of a default solution-particularly in midcentury and contemporary homes with soaring ceilings that demand sculptural presence. Walk into enough double-height living rooms and you'll notice the pattern: Somewhere overhead, an Akari hovers, diffusing light through its paper-and-bamboo shade. But occasionally even the most ardent Noguchi lantern devotees need to find something just a bit, well, different."

"For the first pendant, Alonso and his team worked with Kojima Shoten, an artisan workshop founded in Kyoto in the late 18th century, during the Edo period, specializing in traditional Japanese chochin (paper lanterns)-the type of craft that originally inspired Noguchi's lighting experiments. The lantern Commune commissioned, measuring 60 cm in diameter and 243 cm in height (nearly eight feet), is made of washi paper and bamboo ribbing, just like Noguchi's designs, but for this piece, large swaths of paper have been stripped away, exposing the bamboo skeleton and further dematerializing the ethereal object."

Isamu Noguchi Akari light sculptures function as enduring, elegant design staples that frequently appear in midcentury and contemporary interiors. These lanterns often serve as a default solution in double-height rooms, providing sculptural presence and diffused light through paper-and-bamboo construction. Commune Design faced the need for larger fixtures when rehabbing a Sea Ranch family home with two double-height dining rooms. The firm collaborated with Kojima Shoten, a Kyoto workshop rooted in Edo-period chochin craft, to produce oversized pendants. One commissioned lantern measures 60 cm in diameter and 243 cm tall, built of washi paper and bamboo ribbing, with large areas of paper removed to reveal the bamboo skeleton and dematerialize the form while maintaining ethereal light quality.

Read at Architectural Digest