Asian Influence On American Furniture

To think of the famous names in modern furniture design, you may come up with Rennie Mackintosh, Eileen Gray, Le Corbusier, Bauhaus, even Frank Lloyd Wright. But how about Isamu Noguchi? Missed that one?

Mr. Noguchi was instrumental in blending Japanese and Western styles, and helped mightily in the rise of modernism in the western world, as influenced by Japan. This half Japanese artist and designer was born in America in 1904, and lived in both the U.S. and Japan. His impact was significant on a trend in American design that had started in Europe in the 1800s.

An era of great stability called the Edo Period ran from 1603 to 1867 in Japan. During this time there was a strong move within this isolated nation to enhance the quality of workmanship and design in all things. Toward the end of this era, Japan was emerging from centuries as a closed society, and beginning to interact with the outside world. For the west, this was a time of great curiosity and discovery about Japan's reclusive culture.

At the time, European society was entrenched in ornate design trends and realism in the arts. It had never experienced the elegant simplicity of design that was revealed as trade with Japan brought in samples of their artistry. The resulting excitement that swept France, Great Britain and other trading nations was dubbed Japonism. This was a part of what was called the Aesthetic Movement that enthralled Europe at this time.

In America, this fascination caught on as well. Some historians have suggested that the Art Nouveau period of design was in part due to the effect that simplistic Japanese style had on design in this country. In both its art and design, Japan's Edo Period had developed a sophistication of curved lines, textural contrast and flat patterns without perspective.

Designers like Mackintosh, Gray, students of the Bauhaus school, practitioners of art nouveau and modernism, all owe their fascination in clean, simple lines to the designs that emerged from Japan. It was an exciting change from traditional western design, and it affected furniture design in America from that time forward.

Furniture simply became simpler. Cleaner lines, basic shapes, and a celebration of wood grain, texture, color and curves. These characteristics of Edo Period design were energetically accepted by America's foremost furniture designers.

Among modern furniture design today, you see design elements that can also be found throughout Japanese culture and society. These include influences such as the strong lines and subtle flares of Torii gates that guard Shinto shrines. Or in the rectangular shapes of traditional Tansu chests that continue in modular furniture designs where flexibility and an understated accent of hardwoods have an appeal that still thrives.

The minimalist Japanese style that is often associated with a Zen approach to living, matches well with the modernism that more people in western culture now embrace. Less is better. Fewer furniture pieces, each strategically placed with the proper space around it. And with the modern minimalist approach goes a reverence for the beauty of fine-grained wood handcrafting and attention to detail.

This Asian influence on European and American furniture design was a dramatic departure from the western style of design that existed at the time. So much so, that over one hundred years later, it still is recognized as truly modern design.

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