Why the Noguchi Aesthetic Has Never Been More Relevant

Recently, the foundation also staged a popular exhibition with the White Cube gallery, in London, titled A New Nature, combining a large assortment of Noguchi’s purpose-built play equipment, a set of galvanized steel sculptures, a 40-foot waterfall installation, and nearly 100 Akaris. It ambitiously showcased Noguchi’s range of disciplines to explore his beliefs about harmonizing our relationship with the planet. “His approach to ecology—making the world better through repair, better stewardship, and innovation—is exciting and powerful because it accounts for humanity as it is, asking us to think like nature and enhance rather than destroy the world,” Dakin Hart, senior curator at The Noguchi Museum, says.

While Noguchi’s works have been exhibited and celebrated for decades, their timelessness is not lost on younger generations. When AD toured the newly renovated home of Troye Sivan last year, the singer-songwriter beamed about creating a “soup of light” with Akari light sculptures. Sivan said that, in partnership with Flack Studio, he aimed for “soft light that just kind of gently fills the room.” The actress Ashley Tisdale recently told AD that even a medical procedure couldn’t get in the way of her purchasing one of the taller Akari lights, which sell out quickly on the museum’s website. 

Another Akari collector, Victor Sanchez, also known as @viiiiics on TikTok, says, “I think people, especially Gen Z who are getting their first apartments and spent more time at home during lockdowns, realize how important lighting and design are. Also, social media algorithms have eliminated any gatekeeping as to how you can actually get these pieces.”

Alana Tang, who founded In The Comfort Of, owns three Akari light sculptures and routinely sources and sells vintage Noguchi works. “It’s hard to look at something as intriguing as an Akari light sculpture, truly a piece of functional art, and not be instantly captivated by its form,” she says. Collectors like Moe Flaherty, who resides in the Gerald Luss House, in Ossining, New York, also can’t get enough of the Akaris; his family lives among 14 of them. “We started with one when we first moved into the house, and soon realized we needed one in every room, sometimes two,” he explains.