From architectural designs to functional urban plans, Shigeru Uchida (1943—2016) is one of Japan’s top interior designers of the 20th century. In 1970, he founded Uchida Designs Inc., where he made commissioned work for the Japanese government and elite corporations. From 2008 until 2011, Uchida served as director of the Kuwasawa Design Institute. His designs are in collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Kobe Fashion Museum, and many more.
Biography:
1943 Born in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
1966 Graduated from Kuwasawa Design School
1970 Established Uchida Design Inc.
1974 - 1978 Lecturer at Tokyo Zokei University
1986 Public Lecture at Washington State University
1986 Lecture at Columbia University and Parsons School of Design
1992 Special lecture at Domus Academy, Milan, Italy
1992 Special Lecture at IDEAS'93, International Design Student Conference, Melbourne, Australia
1995 Special lecture at Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy
1997 - 2016 Guest Professor, Kumamoto Design College
1998 Special lecture co-sponsored by IIDA, The Art Institute of Chicago
1998 Public Lecture at the Design Symposium organized by Alvar Aalto Museum, Finland
1998 Special lecture organized by APSDA'98, Malaysia
1999 - 2002 Visiting Professor at Sapporo University
1999 Special lecture at HDK University, Sweden
1999 Public lecture at the International Symposium organized by the University of the Basque Country, Spain
2000 Special Lecture at Seoul National University of the Arts
2001 - 2009 Visiting Professor, Tokyo Zokei University
2001 Special Lecture at Bauhaus University
2002 Special Lecture at Hong Kong Designers' Association
2002 Lecture at INVOLUCRI Symposium, Bologna, Italy
2003 - 2016 Visiting Professor, Kuwasawa Design School
2003 Special Lecture at CONTRACT+DESIGN asia 2003, Shanghai, China
2005 - 2008 Part-time lecturer at Nagoya Institute of Technology
2006 Guest Speaker at Design INDABA, Cape Town, South Africa
2008 - 2011 Director of Kuwasawa Design School
2009 Lecture at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute
2010 - 2015 Visiting Professor, New Business School [STRAMD] (-2015)
Art Fair:
2022 Design Miami, Miami, Florida
Public Collections:
Kumamoto Traditional Crafts Museum, Kumamoto, Japan
Okazaki City Museum of Art, Aichi, Japan
Kobe Fashion Museum, Kobe, Japan
The Museum of Modern Art Saitama, Saitama, Japan
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada
National Museum of Science and Technology, Ontario, Canada
The Conran Foundation, United kingdom
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
M+ Museum, Hong Kong
Awards:
1987 Mainichi Design Award
1992 The 1st Kuwasawa Award
1998 Japan Culture Design Conference Member Award
2000 Minister of Education Award for Art Encouragement
2007 Medals of Honor with Purple Ribbon
2011 Award for Promotion of Tea Ceremony Culture
2013 The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon
