Sori Yanagi

Sori Yanagi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1915, where he attended art school, and worked in the office of designer Charlotte Perriand from 1940 to 1942. In 1952, he founded the Yanagi Industrial Design Institute, which went on to design an exceptional number of everyday objects and pieces of furniture. Sori Yanagi's organically shaped designs combine Western industrial design with Japan's craft traditions, and he became one of the most important Japanese designers of the post-war period. As well as furniture, he designed lights, glassware, cutlery, children's toys, underground stations, cars and motorbikes. In 1977, Sori Yanagi became director of the Japan Folk Crafts Museum in Tokyo.