Nara square table, (1983). Shiro Kuramata (Japan) / Memphis Milano.
 
Square end or coffee table in metal and colored-glass-infused "Star Piece" terrazzo.
 
Dimensions: W 23.75" x D 23.75" x H 16".
 
An important table design from the Japanese maestro --- ephemeral, dreamlike, sculptural -- yet a strange form of decorated minimalism. During the most prolific period of his career, Shiro designed all of Issey Miyake's boutiques worldwide --- thus explaining their unsettling, sculptural yet POP-like sensibilities.
 
Specifically, Kuramata was once commissioned in the 1980’s by his stalwart patron to design his in-store Miyake boutique at Bergdorf Goodman in New York City. Simple L-shaped, 20 ft. x 6 ft. shelves of thin stainless steel (cut from single sheets, so as to avoid weld joints) hovered above a poured-in-place terrazzo floor of creamy yellow cement and tiny shards of emerald-coloured glass. This writer, visiting Manhattan with a couple of friends at the time, dropped to his knees on the floor during a very busy Saturday retail hour to investigate Kuramata’s solitary usage of green glass (typically terrazzo is made up of multi-coloured marble chips as the aggregate). Within seconds, I discovered the reason for the enigma.
 
Calling over to my friends Jonathan and Ladislav (as well as the store’s dumbfounded customers) – “Look! I can see it! The broken glass pieces, they have words on them! C – o – c – a C – o – l – a ! My God – it’s Kuramata’s homage to America!” Obsession has its rewards!