Shiro Kuramata (b 1934) studied architecture at Tokyo Polytechnic in Tokyo until 1953. In 1965 he founded his own design practice. As an interior designer, Shiro Kuramata designed more than three hundred bars and restaurants and also designed furniture. Shiro Kuramata became famous overnight in 1977 for the S-shaped, curvilinear 'Drawer in an Irregular Form', a piece of storage furniture in black stained ash with the drawer fronts lacquered white. He was inspired by ettore sottsass’s playful spirit and love of bright color and joined sottsass’s collective, the design group 'Memphis', based in Milan, at its founding in 1981, the same year that Zeev Aram first introduced his designs to the European market. In 1988 Shiro Kuramata moved to Paris, where he set up a design practice in the rue Royal. Shiro Kuramata's designs are executed by Cappellini and other distinguished firms. He died in 1991.