Satoshi Itasaka

Satoshi Itasaka, In things: the collected works by h220430, Eindhoven, 2022, p. 90-91

The Balloon bench, suspended from clusters of red resin balloons that appear to lift it into the air, was created in 2011 by Japanese designer Satoshi Itasaka. The piece pays homage to the French film Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon), directed by Albert Lamorisse in 1956. This short film tells the story of a red balloon that follows a young boy, Pascal, through the streets of Ménilmontant, culminating in the boy’s final ascent into the sky, carried away by a cloud of balloons.

With this work, Satoshi Itasaka offers a creation in which technical mastery beautifully serves a poetic expression inspired by a surreal imagination. Defying gravity, the Balloon bench embodies the childlike dream of floating away, blending lightness, illusion, and poetry.