Isamu Noguchi: Sculptural Design

Isamu Noguchi refused to choose between art and design. This exhibition argues that was the point. The Japanese-American sculptor spent his career moving between worlds—Brancusi's studio and Herman Miller's factories, Japanese garden design and Broadway stage sets, playground equipment and museum commissions. His Akari light sculptures remain in production seventy years later. His coffee table is in every mid-century modern home. But he insisted he was a sculptor, not a designer. This retrospective brings together 150 works that blur the distinction. Stone sculptures sit alongside furniture prototypes. Paper lanterns float above architectural models. The exhibition design itself—by Jasper Morrison—treats the space as one continuous environment rather than discrete galleries. What emerges is a vision of design as philosophical practice. For Noguchi, every object was an investigation: how does form relate to use? How does material shape meaning? These aren't questions you answer. They're questions you keep asking.