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199 - Satoshi Itasaka Glass Balloon Blue Lantern Murano glass (Sim…
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Estimate €1,600 - €2,000
Sale commission
Description
Satoshi Itasaka Glass Balloon Blue Lantern Murano glass (Simone Cenedese kiln), LED, electrical cable Date created: 2023 H30 W40 D30 cm Satoshi Itasaka is a product and furniture designer working under the name studio H220430, an acronym for Heisei 22 (2010), 30 April, the official launch date of his new venture. He began his career in the more formal field of architecture, working at Kidosaki Architects. His most iconic work, the Balloon Bench—a whimsical, fairy-tale piece that captures the hearts of fans of the film *The Red Balloon*—perfectly illustrates the deliberate refusal of his work to conform to obvious criteria of functionality or marketability. In a society built on production, mass consumption and the rapid discarding of objects, there is something admirable in Itasaka’s ability to incorporate a concept into product design. Through each creation, he seeks to imbue a message, what he calls ‘secondary communication’: a meaning that is not immediately apparent, but which was decisive in the design process. His works feature in New York galleries, international art events and the collections of design museums. With the Glass Balloon, Satoshi Itasaka takes the balloon metaphor to its most poetic and precious dimension: the inflated form is no longer made of ABS plastic but of mouth-blown Murano glass, crafted in Simone Cenedese’s furnace on the island of Murano, in Venice, one of the lagoon’s most renowned glassworks, heir to a centuries-old tradition of glassblowing. The deep blue hue permeates the glass wall and transforms upon contact with LED light: the balloon becomes a lantern, the sculpture becomes a light source, the child’s toy becomes an object of contemplation. In this piece, there is an unlikely yet perfect encounter between the conceptual minimalism of Japanese design and the artisanal sensuality of Venetian glassmaking, two cultures of craftsmanship that cannot be reduced to one another, brought together here in a single luminous object of great delicacy.
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About the sale Sculptural furniture and functional art
Auction location
Auction time 06/25/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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