Isamu Kenmochi

{{short description|Japanese industrial designer}}

{{Infobox person

| name =

| native_name = 剣持勇

| native_name_lang = ja

| birth_date = 2 January 1912

| birth_place = Tokyo

| death_date = {{d-da|3 June 1971|2 January 1912}}

| death_place = Shinjuku, Tokyo

| education = Chiba University

| awards = G-Mark Prize

Mainichi Design Prize

}}

File:Rattan chair.jpg

Isamu Kenmochi ({{Langx|ja|剣持勇}}, 1912 - 1971) was a Japanese modernist designer significant in the development of Japanese industrial design after World War II.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100033461|title=Isamu Kenmochi - Oxford Reference|website=www.oxfordreference.com|doi=|language=en|access-date=2019-03-06}}

Isamu Kenmochi was born on 2 January 1912 in Tokyo.{{Cite web|url=http://www.tobunken.go.jp/materials/bukko/9269.html|title=剣持勇 :: 東文研アーカイブデータベース|website=www.tobunken.go.jp|access-date=2019-03-06}} Kenmochi graduated from the Tokyo College of Industrial Arts ({{Langx|ja|東京高等工芸学校}}, now Chiba University Faculty of Engineering) in 1932. After his graduation, Kenmochi worked at the Industrial Arts Research Institute in Tokyo.

Kenmochi met artist and designer Isamu Noguchi in the summer of 1950 on Noguchi's first trip to Japan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/24/arts/design/24nogu.html|title=Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi - Art - Review|last=Schwendener|first=Martha|date=2007-09-24|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-06|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Together, the two developed a number of furniture designs, pioneering the Japanese Modern style which integrated the material culture of Japanese furniture with modernist styles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.core77.com//posts/8516/Japanese-industrial-design-history-When-Isamu-met-Isamu|title=Japanese industrial design history: When Isamu met Isamu|website=Core77|language=en|access-date=2019-03-06}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.designboom.com/design/design-isamu-noguchi-and-isamu-kenmochi/|title=design: isamu noguchi and isamu kenmochi|date=2007-10-21|website=designboom {{!}} architecture & design magazine|access-date=2019-03-06|archive-date=2019-03-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307054335/https://www.designboom.com/design/design-isamu-noguchi-and-isamu-kenmochi/|url-status=dead}}

In 1952, Kenmochi visited the United States, later writing about the visit in the Industrial Arts Research Institute's publication, Kogei Nyusu.{{Cite journal|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100041501|title=Kogei Nyusu - Oxford Reference|website=www.oxfordreference.com|doi=|language=en|access-date=2019-03-06}} Later that year, Kenmochi became a founding member of the Japan Industrial Designers Association.

File:Noguchi Kenmochi Chair.jpg

In 1964, Kenmochi's 1958 design for a lounge chair commissioned by the Yamakawa Rattan Company was added to the design collection of the MoMA. The design additionally won the G-Mark Prize (Good Design Selection System).

Kenmochi died by suicide on 3 June 1971 in Shinjuku, Tokyo.