Vitra holds the distribution rights in Europe, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.‎The rights in North America are held by the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum and the rights in Japan are held by Ozeki & Co.‎Akari is a floor lamp with a Japanese paper lampshade.‎The Akari Light Sculptures (1951) by Isamu Noguchi are a series of luminaires, handcrafted from traditional washi paper by Japanese artisans.‎The oeuvre of Japanese-American artist and designer Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) is unusually multi-faceted.‎ In addition to sculptures, he also created stage sets, furniture, lighting and interiors, as well as outdoor plazas and gardens.‎ As a sculptor, his interest was not restricted to materials and form, but also extended to spatial effects and interior designs.‎ Noguchi intended his art to serve both practical and social functions, and his sculptural style exerted a lasting influence on the idiom of organic design in the 1950s.‎In 1951 Isamu Noguchi began to design the Akari Light Sculptures, works characterised by weightless luminosity.‎ He chose the name 'akari' for these objects, a word that means 'light' in Japanese, connoting both illumination and physical lightness.‎ During a journey to Japan, Noguchi paid a visit to Gifu, a town known for its manufacture of paper parasols and lanterns.‎ While there he sketched his first two Akari Light Sculptures, and over the following years he created a total of more than 100 models, consisting of table, floor and ceiling lamps ranging in size from 24 to 290 cm.‎Each luminaire is meticulously crafted by hand in the Ozeki workshop, a traditional family-run company based in Gifu.‎ In a first step, bamboo rods are stretched across the original wooden forms designed by Noguchi to make the framework that determines the object's shape.‎ Washi paper, derived from the bark of the mulberry tree, is cut in strips to fit the size and shape of the lamp and then glued to the bamboo ribbing.‎ After the glue has dried, the wooden form is removed and the shade can be folded.‎ The Akari Light Sculptures are packed for shipping or storage in flat boxes developed especially for the luminaires.‎'The harshness of electricity is thus transformed through the magic of paper back to the light of our origin – the sun – so that its warmth may continue to fill our rooms at night.‎'Isamu NoguchiThe Akari Light Sculptures are marked with a stylised sun-and-moon logo, which also resembles the corresponding Japanese characters.‎ This symbol guarantees the authenticity of each product.‎