Isao Hosoe

ISAO HOSOE (Tokyo, 1942-2015) for Valenti, Italy.
Portable lamp "Tama".1975.
Plastic.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 44 x 35 x 35 cm.

Table lamp designed by Isao Hosoe for Valenti in the 1970s. It is a portable lamp, in the shape of a globe with a handle. It seems to be inspired by Japanese paper lanterns while reinterpreting this tradition in a pop key.

Isao Hosoe was a Japanese engineer and designer. Born in Tokyo, Hosoe studied at Nihon University, where he graduated in 1965 in aerospace engineering with a thesis on a human-powered aircraft, followed by a Master of Science degree in 1967. That same year he moved to Milan, where he lived until his death, collaborating mainly with Alberto Rosselli and Gio Ponti of Studio Ponti-Fornaroli-Rosselli from 1967 to 1974. In 1985 he founded his own studio Isao Hosoe Design. Hosoe was a member of the ADI, the SIE (Italian Ergonomics Society), the Japan Design Committee and the Japan Inter-Design Forum. He was a professor of Industrial Design at the Polytechnic University of Milan and at the Sapienza University of Rome. He has taught at various institutions: the Faculty of Architecture in Alghero, Domus Academy, University of Siena, ISIA in Florence, the Institute of Design in Cagliari, Les Ateliers in Paris, Elisava in Barcelona, RISD in Providence and the University of Lisbon. Several of Hosoes' projects are permanently exhibited at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and also in Milan and Chicago. He has received numerous awards, regionally and internationally, for projects in the fields of product and interior design, transport, telecommunications and electronics: among them, the Compasso d'Oro from Iveco Space for Carrozzeria Orlandi, the Good Design Award from Japan and Chicago and the Gold Medal from the Triennale.