ALAÏA/KURAMATA Lightness In Creation

Shiro Kuramata’s work is replete with the ancient and fascinating history of Japanese decorative arts and the modern eagerness for Japanese simplicity and structural simplicity that has strongly influenced the dogma of “form follows function”.

More than the pieces themselves, what’s important is their stories, which are connected by the continuous thread of non-materialisation. “My strongest wish is to feel free of all gravity, of all ties,” he declared; “I want to float”. This approach runs imbues all of his work with a kind of spiritual quest. His attempts to defy gravity find formal expression in transparent materials such as glass, acrylc and metal mesh, as well as in his experiments with the incorporation of light. By using these materials, he explores links between lightness and gravity, matter and non-matter. These relationships shimmer in his designs, producing a calm, contemplative atmosphere redolent with gentle aesthetic humanity and a refined sense of poetry.

How high is the moon is a steel mesh armchair created and designed by Shiro Kuramata in 1986. Itis a steel mesh armchair designed by Shiro Kuramata in 1986. It is one of 25 pieces that Azzedine Alaïa collected from the 2000s onwards. "To get away from rags", quipped Alaïa, who appreciated Kuramata’s light-hearted humour and their shared relationship with sculpture.

"The biggest problem," Kuramata explained, "is gravity. We must think about how to erase it." His pared-back creations aimed at achieving perfection are well-honed responses to the problem of balance in objects.

Azzedine Alaïa was a great admirer of Shiro Kuramata, who died in 1991, and organised an exhibition of his work here in 2005. Twenty years later, and for the first time ever, the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa has decided to celebrate one of the great designers of his time by associating Kuramata’s work with a careful selection of pieces by Alaïa chosen for the materials, forms or approaches they share. The lurex knit of a simple gown responds to the knitted metal mesh of a chair, while the transparent acrylic of a shelf unit echoes the feather-light muslin of an haute couture creation.

Some twenty pieces of furniture and exceptional objects designed by Shiro Kuramata (1934-91) are presented in the exhibition. In parallel, almost twenty haute couture creations by Azzedine Alaïa demonstrate his poetry of form, his radical tailoring, his subtle choice of colour and his refined use of transparency. Imbued with a great sense of lightness, the pieces on display reflect an eagerness for abstraction shared by both artists.

All the pieces on display by Shiro Kuramata and Azzedine Alaïa are from the collections of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa.