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Sori Yanagi Seating

Japanese, 1915-2011

Sōri Yanagi was a Japanese product designer. Born in 1915 in Tokyo, Japan. His father was Yanagi Sōetsu, founder of the Japanese folk crafts mingei movement, which celebrated the beauty of everyday objects, and the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum (Nihon Mingeikan). Yanagi entered Tokyo Art School in 1934, where he studied both art and architecture. He played a role in the Japanese modern design developed after the Second World War to the high-growth period in the Japanese economy. Yanagi was both a representative of the wholly Japanese modern designer and a full-blown Modernist, who merged simplicity and practicality with elements of traditional Japanese crafts. He designed the official torch for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. Yanagi died in 2011 at the age of 96.

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Creator: Sori Yanagi
Elephant stool by Sori Yanagi
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Paris, FR
An Elephant stool by Sori Yanagi in blue fiberglass, manufactured by Kotobuki Seating Company, Tokyo, Japan, engraved with the editor’s m...
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Fiberglass

Sori Yanagi Rosewood and Brass Butterfly Stool Vintage
By Sori Yanagi
Located in North Miami, FL
This iconic and collectable butterfly stool is a work of simple and elegant sculpture by the Japanese designer Sori Yanagi. It is rosewood and brass structure. The combination aesthe...
Category

1960s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Brass

Sori Yanagi Side Chairs for Kotobuki, Pair, Designed in 1969
By Kotobuki, Sori Yanagi
Located in Kawaguchi city, Saitama
Stackable side chairs designed by Sori Yanagi in 1969 and manufactured by Kotobuki. Sold as a pair. Priced in pair. Upholstery, FRP (fiber-glass reinforced plastic), steel.
Category

1970s Japanese Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Steel

Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
By Sori Yanagi
Located in San Francisco, CA
A Sori Yanagi butterfly stool for Tendo in bent rosewood and brass. Literature: Design since 1945, Hiesinger, pg. 137.
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Rosewood

Sori Yanagi "Butterfly" Mid-Century Stool in Plywood Produced by Tendo ca 1980s
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Stockholm, SE
Rare and great example of Sori Yanagi iconic "Butterfly" stool in bent plywood produced by Tendo Mokko, Japan ca 1980s. This example was purchased by the previous owner in Tokyo in t...
Category

1980s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Plywood

Elephant Stool by Sori Yanagi
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Paris, FR
An Elephant stool by Sori Yanagi, in black fiberglass, manufactured by Kotobuki Seating Company, Tokyo, Japan, engraved with the editor’s mark and desig...
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Fiberglass

Butterfly Stool by Sori Yanagi
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Paris, FR
A butterfly stool, model "S-0521/M", by Sori Yanagi, in wood and patinated brass, manufactured by Tendo Mokko, Japan, with the old editor’s label, model designed in 1954.
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Brass

Rare Japanese Stool by Soetsu Yanagi
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Brussels, BE
This stool was made for the In 1936, the Japanese Folk Crafts Museum. Made of Japanese cherry wood and seagrass. Today, you can still see the original benches made for this museum. Yanagi Soetsu (1889 – 1961), also known as Yanagi Muneyoshi, was a Japanese art critic, philosopher, and founder of the mingei (folk craft) movement in Japan in the late 1920s and 1930s. His son, Sori Yanagi, was a renowned industrial designer. In 1916, Yanagi made his first trip to Korea out of curiosity about Korean crafts. The trip led to the establishment of the Korean Folk Crafts Museum in 1924 and the coining of the term mingei by Yanagi, potters Hamada Shoji (1894–1978) and Kawai Kanjiro...
Category

1930s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Seagrass, Cherry

Sori Yanagi, Early Production "Butterfly" Stools Walnut, Brass, Tendo Mokko 1954
By Tendo Mokko, Sori Yanagi
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A set of rare and early organic "Butterfly" stools, designed in 1954 by Sori Yanagi. Produced by Tendo Mokko, Japan. Priced and sold individually. Other designers of the period incl...
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Brass

Sori Yanagi Rare Early Red Elephant Stool for Kotobuki, Japan
By Sori Yanagi, Kotobuki
Located in Maastricht, NL
A rare and early red version fiberglass elephant stool, designed by Sori Yanagi for Kotobuki. It bears its name 'elephant stool' because of the shape resemblances a baby elephant....
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Fiberglass

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Previously Available Items
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H 13.98 in. W 20.08 in. D 20.08 in.
Elephant Stool by Sori Yanagi for Puig, 1960s Set of 2
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Sori Yanagi, "Elephant" Stool, Fiberglass, Japan, 1954
By Sori Yanagi, Tendo Mokko
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A black plexiglass "Elephant" stool, designed by Sori Yanagi and produced by Kotobuki Seating Company, Tokyo, Japan, 1954.
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1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

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Fiberglass

Sori Yanagi Elephant stool by Kotobuki, Japan 1954
By Sori Yanagi, Kotobuki
Located in Rotterdam, NL
Elephant stool by Sori Yanagi for Kotobuki Seating Company, Tokyo Japan 1954. Yanagi originally designed the stool as a work chair for hi...
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

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Elephant Stool by Sori Yanagi, Habitat Limited Edition, 2001
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Athens, GR
Elephant fiberglass stool by Sori Yanagi, limited edition for Habitat, 2001.No longer in production. The stool has since been reissued by vitra in polypropylene. Originally designed...
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Early 2000s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Sori Yanagi Seating

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Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
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Located in Los Angeles, CA
Sori Yanagi was born in Tokyo, Japan. He was very influenced by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand, whom he translated for when she visited Japan. Yanagi's designs are known for their beauty and simplicity, which mirror his belief: 'true beauty is not made, it is born naturally.' Yanagi designed the official torch for the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. 'One of the most famous pieces of furniture is his Butterfly Stool...
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Stainless Steel

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  • Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
H 12 in. W 15.25 in. D 16.5 in.
Rosewood Butterfly Stool by Japanese Designer Sori Yanagi
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Located in Dronten, NL
A perfect fusion of western function and eastern or Asian sensibility, the iconic butterfly stool was originally conceived in 1954 by Japanese designer ...
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Mid-20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Sori Yanagi Seating

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Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Phoenix, AZ
A Sori Yanagi butterfly stool for Tendo in bent rosewood and brass. Marked with label.
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1960s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

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Brass

  • Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stool
H 15 in. W 17 in. D 12 in.
Elephant Stool by Sori Yanagi for Vitra
By Sori Yanagi
Located in San Diego, CA
Red molded Plastic elephant stool by Sori Yanagi, for Vitra.  
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21st Century and Contemporary German Organic Modern Sori Yanagi Seating

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Sori Yanagi Elephant stool, circa 1954
By Sori Yanagi
Located in Paris, FR
An "Elephant stool" by the Japanese designer Sori Yanagi (1915-2011), in white fiberglass, manufactured by Kotobuki Seating Company, Tokyo, Japan, engraved with the editor’s mark and...
Category

1950s Japanese Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Fiberglass

  • Sori Yanagi Elephant stool, circa 1954
  • Sori Yanagi Elephant stool, circa 1954
  • Sori Yanagi Elephant stool, circa 1954
  • Sori Yanagi Elephant stool, circa 1954
H 14.57 in. W 14.57 in. L 14.57 in.
Sori Yanagi for Vitra Maple Butterfly Stool
By Sori Yanagi, Vitra
Located in London, GB
Originally designed by Sori Yanagi in 1954, the Butterfly Stool has since become a design icon. Rooted in the designer’s Japanese aesthetic, the stool was created using the moulde...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary German Sori Yanagi Seating

Materials

Brass

  • Sori Yanagi for Vitra Maple Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi for Vitra Maple Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi for Vitra Maple Butterfly Stool
  • Sori Yanagi for Vitra Maple Butterfly Stool
H 15.36 in. W 16.54 in. L 15.36 in.

Sori Yanagi seating for sale on 1stDibs.

Sori Yanagi seating are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Sori Yanagi seating, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original seating by Sori Yanagi were created in the mid-century modern style in japan during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider seating by Isamu Kenmochi, Akita Mokko, and Junzo Sakakura. Prices for Sori Yanagi seating can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at £1,746 and can go as high as £5,869, while a piece like these, on average, fetch £3,138.

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