Shiro Kuramata graduated with a degree in Architecture from Tokyo Polytechnic University in 1953. As an interior designer, he designed furniture and over three hundred bars and restaurants. During the 1970s and 1980s, attracted by the numerous possibilities offered by new technologies and industrial materials, Kuramata turned to acrylic, glass, aluminum, and steel mesh to create transparent and lightweight objects. Endowed with a playful spirit and a lover of the bright colors of Ettore Sottsass, he joined Memphis at its founding in 1981. Kuramata reevaluated the relationship between form and function, imposing his surreal and minimalist vision on everyday objects. Among his most enduring collaborations was with the fashion brand Issey Miyake, for which he designed most of the interiors of Miyake boutiques worldwide from the late 1970s to 1990.
