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of works from the Memphis-Milano to Umeda Design Studio Inc in 2001. In throughout the world. In 2015, more than
collection, which have recently been the years which followed, he continued 180 works by Umeda were purchased by
made available once again, including the to design many postmodern, poetic and the M+ Museum, West Kowloon Cultural
Negresco wall-mounted lamp by Martine iconic items of furniture. District, Hong Kong.
Bedin (1981), the pair of Fuji cabinets by Masanori Umeda has taken part in
Arata Isozaki (1981), and the Atlas table a number of international exhibitions Memphis srl
by Aldo Cibic (1983). and received several awards, including Memphis srl is the holder of the
the Braun Prize in 1968, the Grand Prix Memphis-Milano, Meta Memphis and
Masanori Umeda (Kanagawa, Japan, of Japan Display Design Award in 1981, Post Design trademarks, which belong
1941) the Japan Commercial Space Design to three different periods in the company
Masanori Umeda obtained a diploma at Award in 1984 and the Grand Prix of history.
Tokyo’s Kuwasawa Design School in 1962. Good Design Award, Japan, in 1990. His Memphis-Milano has its origins in the
He moved to Milan in 1967, where he designs are on display in many museums cultural movement founded in 1981 by
worked at the studio of Achille and Pier
Giacomo Castiglioni. It was while he was
working as a consultant at the Olivetti
design and furnishing system studio from
1970 to 1979 that he met Ettore Sottsass.
In 1981, Umeda designed his most
famous object for Memphis, the Tawaraya
boxing ring, in which the founding
members of the group were photographed
by Studio Azzurro to create one of the
most iconic of Memphis images. A blend
of East and West, Tawaraya, a kind of
metaphor for a conversation piece, is a
boxing ring surfaced with the tatami mats
typical of Japanese traditional interiors.
Umeda continued to work with the
Memphis Group in the two years which
followed, during which he produced the
Ginza robot cabinet and two ceramic
objects, the Orinoco vase and Parana
bowl.
Umeda returned to Japan in 1986,
where he opened his U-MetaDesign
studio in Tokyo, which changed its name

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