Shoichi Uchiyama

Japanese lighting designer Shoichi Uchiyama (b. 1947) is celebrated for bringing rigorous mathematical analysis, optical physics, and glare-free serenity to contemporary architectural illumination. Graduating from Tokyo Zokei University in 1972, Uchiyama dedicated his Tokyo studio to mastering the structural behavior of indirect light. Uchiyama achieved worldwide design fame through his defining collaboration with Danish lighting master Louis Poulsen. His crowning triumph is the Enigma Pendant (2003)—an ethereal, floating luminaire composed of ultra-thin, concentric acrylic shades suspended on fine stainless-steel wires beneath an LED light source. Resembling floating rings of light, the fixture provides completely glare-free, downward ambient illumination. He has also authored precision architectural systems for Yamagiwa.