In 1951, Isamu Noguchi created the first Akari light sculpture — a paper lantern that was also a work of art, a functional object that was also a philosophical statement. More than seventy years later, each Akari is still made by hand in Gifu, Japan, by artisans using the same washi paper and bamboo ribbing that Noguchi specified. Nothing has been updated. Nothing needed to be.

The 1A is among the most intimate of the Akari forms — compact, round, and complete. It diffuses light with the soft warmth that only washi paper produces: no glare, no sharp edges, just the quality of light that makes a room feel inhabited rather than illuminated.

Original Akari Light Sculpture by Isamu Noguchi · Handcrafted in Gifu, Japan · Washi paper and bamboo · Designed 1951