Ozeki in Tokyo's Ningyocho district, one of the world’s largest AKARI galleries

Seemingly floating in space, AKARI lamps are crafted from washi paper and bamboo. It is the washi that gives them their gentle, enveloping light. Isamu Noguchi commissioned Ozeki, a Gifu-based lantern maker now in its sixth generation, to produce these masterpieces of design. Though unlike traditional Japanese lanterns, Noguchi's innovative designs — oval, cylindrical, half-egg-shaped — were realized by Ozeki's skilled craftsmen, and over the next 35 years, Ozeki and Noguchi together brought some 200 varieties of AKARI to the world.

Combining Noguchi's design sense with the beauty of washi and the amazing foldability that is inherent in a Japanese lantern, AKARI lamps have attracted a devoted following in Japan and abroad. The Ozeki showroom in Ningyocho, Tokyo, keeps many AKARI designs on permanent display, and has models and original documents that help visitors understand how the lamps are constructed and visualize the craftsmanship involved.

"They fold up so compactly that customers can even bring them home in their carry-on luggage," says fifth-generation Ozeki chairman and CEO Ozeki Morihiro. The Ozeki showroom also features a wide selection of traditional Japanese lanterns and washi lamps by other designers. Experience the soft beauty of washi-filtered light.

AKARI lamps come in both hanging and freestanding versions.

A traditional Gifu lantern, featuring beautiful hand-painting and a shunkei-nuri lacquered base that allows the wood grain to show through.